What You Need To Know About The Newest Covid-19 Variant

Most of us are focused on how scary the Delta variant of Covid-19 is, with new CDC data showing that fully-vaccinated people can get infected, and spread the disease (via NPR). The statistics are frightening, with cases rising across the country, some of which are breakthrough infections (via WebMD). After a few weeks of the vaccinated shedding their masks, new guidelines urge even protected individuals to re-mask indoors in public.

Still, breakthrough infections are still considered rare, and as Gregg Gonsalves, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, told The New York Times, "If you're vaccinated, you've done the most important thing for you and your family and friends to keep everyone safe." This offers a decent amount of hope in a seemingly-endless stream of difficult-to-read headlines that make the end of the pandemic feel, well, unattainable.

Along those lines, we now know about yet another more infectious strain of Covid-19, called Lambda.

According to Barron's, the Lambda strain is in the U.S. already, and is more resistant to antibodies. And Reuters reports that like Delta, the Lambda variant is more resistant to vaccines than the original virus.

Newsweek reports that Delta is still far more prevalent at this time. The outlet states this new strain was first detected in Peru and is more active in South America currently, but as many as 700 Lambda infections have been diagnosed in the U.S. at time of writing. It's worth noting that Newsweek concedes that more undiagnosed cases probably exist.

As Barron's reports, right now, Lambda is not as concerning to the World Health Organization as Delta. Either way, public health experts stress that the best way to protect yourself against any strain of Covid-19 is to get vaccinated, as vaccines have proven to be very effective at preventing infection, and serious illness if one does get infected.