Authorities reported Thursday that the White House is preparing COVID-19 “surge teams” to send to communities with low vaccination rates to help tackle the particularly virulent delta mutation of the coronavirus.
The teams will collaborate with local medical personnel to undertake contact tracing and will deliver resources, such as medicines and further testing, as needed or requested by states, The Hill reports.
The teams will also assist in supplementing manpower at local immunization clinics.
The government will also expand advertising on the benefits of vaccines in high area neighborhoods, according to White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients.
Since Biden entered office, the federal government has enlisted the aid of teams from departments such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help boost vaccine delivery, with an emphasis on underprivileged regions.
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle Walensky cautioned that the highly infectious delta strain poses the greatest threat to areas that have not been vaccinated. According to her, the delta variety, which was first discovered in India, is responsible for around 25% of all infections in the United States.
Despite the rise of the delta strain, health officials emphasized that the vaccines approved for use in the United States are effective and provide protection against serious illness and death.
Officials have advised unvaccinated individuals to wear masks indoors, but have stated that they have no plans to change the CDC’s advice that vaccinated people do not require masks.
According to preliminary statistics from the last six months, unvaccinated persons accounted for 99.5 percent of COVID-19 deaths in a limited set of states.
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