COVID-19 Delta variant 'more dangerous than original' warn US doctors; list new symptoms

As the United States and other countries worldwide are facing a drastic surge of the COVID-19 cases from the highly contagious delta variant, health experts have issued warnings about somewhat different symptoms. With hospitals admissions comprising of mostly younger, unvaccinated patients, doctors have cautioned that there may be several symptoms that are different from the other variants of SARS-CoV-2 that are being reported from the highly contagious delta variant spread, and that many patients may not realize they have COVID-19 until those symptoms intensify. 

Common symptoms of COVID-19 as noticed during the beginning of the pandemic include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhoea, according to the CDC. But now, with Delta variant tightening its grips across several states in the US, a former Oklahoma State Medical Association President Dr George Monks has warned that the delta variant “could cause issues like a cough, shortness of breath, a fever, body aches, congestion, and more. You may not get the loss of taste and smell,” he adds. “Please get tested if you have these,” Dr Monks wrote on Twitter. 

Many of the border states in the United States such as Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, areas where there has been sort of a lower vaccination rate, the Delta variant has been really hitting hard. It's only going to increase, ex-Oklahoma State Medical Association President Dr. George Monks told a local Fox25 news broadcaster in his live-streamed remarks.

COVID-19 is back again, and it's affecting more younger individuals and the beds are filling up, he stressed. "In southwest Missouri in US, hospitals are now full. They’re maxed out. The COVID beds, the COVID ICU beds are maxed out. They’re having to send people out of state", he warned in televised statements. 

Symptoms, that go unnoticed, flare within a short span

The experts are warning that the delta variant that wreaked havoc in India comparatively takes much lesser time to make someone sick and the symptoms flare within a relatively shorter span of time. “This delta variant is more deadly than the original,”  Dr. Mary Clarke, the current Oklahoma State Medical Association President told the US broadcasters. The US CDC reported an alarming seven-day moving average of daily new COVID-19 cases, an estimated 69.3 per cent higher than noticed previously. Similarly, new hospital admissions for COVID-19 were 35.8 per cent higher and deaths surged by 26.3 per cent. The Oklahoma health official warned that even those who were fully vaccinated still needed to wear a mask in indoor settings or crowded areas. 

“If you are still hesitant or have some questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, please talk to your physician. The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and very effective at keeping you out of the hospital and keeping you alive. Getting COVID-19 is risky,” Monks wrote. "We have very little understanding of just how prevalent the Delta Variant is due to the very small and inadequate amount of variant testing being done at the State level," he insisted.