Experts from UTSA, UT Health offer timely COVID information for parents and students

AUGUST 13, 2021 — The COVID-19 Delta variant is wreaking havoc across the United States, including the San Antonio area, where a surge in cases is once again quickly filling up local hospital beds with sick COVID patients.

With the start of school on the horizon, medical experts are telling parents and students that the most effective way to halt the Delta variant is through a combination of vaccinations and masks. This recommendation, however, continues to face strong reluctance from many Texans for a variety of reasons.

In an effort to counter the misinformation, UTSA partnered with UT Health San Antonio to provide expert information in a Community Conversations livestreamed event titled Vaccines and Variants: Separating Facts from Fiction, on August 12.

“Everybody should be getting the vaccine and should get masked so that we can move to a better place.”

The event was moderated by Bernard Arulanandam, Jane and Roland Blumberg Professor in Biology and vice president for the UTSA Research, Economic Development, and Knowledge Enterprise. The three other participants in the panel discussion were: Erica Sosa, associate dean for research and associate professor for the UTSA Department of Public Health; Jason Bowling, associate professor of infectious diseases at UT Health San Antonio and Thomas Patterson, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UT Health San Antonio.

The Delta variant is considered highly contagious. According to the panel’s experts, it is the most transmissible form of COVID the medical community has seen so far.

“Previously, a person that was infected with COVID-19 could infect maybe two or three other people. Now a person infected with this Delta variant can infect six to eight other people,” Bowling said. “Another thing that we've seen with this Delta variant is that it is more effective at causing infections. It is able to easily infect people, even if they've had prior infection with a prior strain.”

Although breakthrough cases—instances where vaccinated people contract COVID—can happen, data shows vaccinated people typically experience mild symptoms and very few hospitalizations.

The consensus from the panel is that vaccines work and that vaccination numbers need to increase to create herd immunity. That will help stop the spread of the Delta variant and curtail future variants from developing.

“There is empirical, scientific evidence that cannot be disputed about the facts of vaccines. Vaccines are proven, and they work. Vaccines have directly contributed to increasing the longevity of humans,” Arulanandam said. “With effective vaccination strategies, we have eradicated highly infectious microbes. In this respect, some of the most devastating diseases that affect children have been greatly reduced or eradicated completely thanks to vaccination.”

Until vaccination rates increase and the spread of the Delta variant slows, the panel recommended that people also mask up.

“It's really important at this point that people wear masks, if they're around other groups of people, if they're outside of their household bubble, if they're in indoor settings. Masking is another way to protect yourself and protect others from getting this Delta variant,” Patterson said. “So everybody should be getting the vaccine and should get masked so that we can move to a better place.”

The panel offered detailed answers for a variety of vaccine and variant related questions.

— Bruce Forey