As Delta Variant Spreads, How Vaccinated Is Wyckoff?

WYCKOFF, NJ — The delta variant has become dominant in coronavirus cases across the United States, accounting for more than half of cases nationwide in the week that ended on July 3, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A number of clusters have been reported in states that are lagging on vaccinations, while vaccine numbers in New Jersey are ahead of the national average.

Health experts have said that although the risk of getting sick from the delta variant is low for those who have been fully vaccinated, its spread could delay the end of the pandemic.

“Delta will certainly accelerate the pandemic” around the world, F. Perry Wilson, a Yale Medicine epidemiologist, said in a statement.

Even in New Jersey, state officials said communities in the state are lagging behind, even as the CDC reports that the Garden State is eighth among all states in vaccinations. Wyckoff is not among those communities lagging, as the township is steadily closing in on the 70 percent vaccinated mark. Read more: As Delta Variant Spikes In NJ, Vaccinations Lag In These Towns

The delta variant, which was first seen in India and was first detected in the United States in March, spreads 50 percent faster than the alpha variant that originated in Great Britain, which itself spreads 50 percent faster than the original coronavirus strain, according to Yale Medicine.

It accounted for 53.2 percent of coronavirus cases in New Jersey over a four-week period ending on July 3, CDC numbers show. Just over half of the national coronavirus cases during a two-week period during that span involved the delta variant, Reuters reported.

Andy Slavitt, a former member of President Joe Biden’s Covid Response Team, told CNN the delta variant is “the 2020 version of COVID-19 on steroids.”

“It’s twice as infectious,” Slavitt said. “Fortunately, unlike 2020, we actually have a tool that stops the delta variant in its tracks: It’s called vaccine.”

That’s evidenced in North Carolina, among other states, where the state’s health secretary said more than 99 percent of the new cases there have occurred in people who are not fully vaccinated, according to WITN.

As of July 8, 24 states were looking at a coronavirus case weekly uptick of 10 percent or more, Johns Hopkins University data shows.

States within regions showing a high cluster of delta variant cases are among those lagging in vaccination rates, WBUR and others have reported. In the region including New Jersey, the delta variant accounted for 56.6 percent of recent cases, a map from Fortune.com shows.

In New Jersey, 66.5 percent of people age 12 and up — those eligible to get a vaccine — have been fully vaccinated, the CDC said. That compares with the 55.6 percent national vaccine rate as of July 8.

Wyckoff residents have been fully vaccinated at a clip of 63 percent, but 69 percent of the township has received at least one dose of the vaccine, signaling that the township could be close to hitting the state goal of 70 percent, according to the latest state data.

But vaccination rates in some municipalities remain below 50 percent, according to state data.

On Monday, New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Perscihilli said the state has ambassadors in 11 counties working with elected officials and local public health and community groups to get those numbers up.

Those counties include Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic and Union.

The 10 New Jersey towns with the lowest vaccination rates according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard are:

• Lakewood (39 percent)
• Phillipsburg (39 percent)
• New Brunswick (41 percent)
• Bridgeton (42 percent)
• Irvington (42 percent)
• East Orange (43 percent)
• Trenton (45 percent)
• Camden (46 percent)
• Glassboro (47 percent)
• Orange (49 percent)

With additional reporting from Anthony Bellano.

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.