EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) El Paso’s Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza said there have not been any positive cases reported of the COVID-19 delta variant in El Paso as of now.
He added other variants have been detected but not the delta which is a highly contagious strain in the U.S. causing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the world.
“Definitely the variants have been a concern and we have seen some variants in our city which have been very limited to probably household [transmissions],” Ocaranza said.
Ocaranza said the good news is the COVID-19 vaccine is still effective against variants.
“The more percentage of the population we have vaccinated the better protection we’ll have to create a shield,” Ocaranza said.
El Paso City/County data reports 67.3% of El Paso’s eligible population is fully vaccinated. Ocaranza said communities with lower vaccination rates are seeing more of the spike in cases.
“Our community has been fortunate that it’s been very accepting of the vaccine, we need to convince more people to get it so we can be better protected,” Ocaranza said.
