SAN DIEGO — Both the vaccinated and unvaccinated can still get the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus. That’s why health officials are urging more people to get vaccinated as hospitalizations increase.
Andrew Kaufman is one of the more than two million San Diegans that are fully vaccinated.
He said since California reopened, he’s remained cautious, going out to eat, but sitting outdoors.
“So I had some symptoms, I thought they were just allergies at first. I didn’t pay attention to them, then they seemed a little worse," said Kaufman who's COVID-19 positive after two Pfizer doses.
Kaufman and his two friends, who are also vaccinated, got tested for the virus and the results were positive.
“I can’t blame myself, because I’ve done everything. If I hadn’t gotten vaccinated, hadn’t worn a mask, walked around, I would be angry with myself, but that’s not who I am," said Kaufman.
Health officials said getting tested is the right thing to do because it's the only way to stop the spread.
“What’s concerning, is they can inadvertently pass COVID on to people around them who may not be vaccinated or children who can’t get vaccinated thinking they have some other virus," said Dr. Jyotu Sandhu of Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group.
The latest numbers in San Diego County show more than 1,300 new cases over the last week and no additional deaths.
Kaufman doesn’t know which variant he has, those results take a few weeks. But Dr. Sandhu said with the significantly growing trends we’ve seen, it’s safe to assume the more recent breakthrough cases are the Delta variant.
"The virus just hopes you cough the virus off to someone else before you die, then it will continue to live and grow and if it happens to be passed to vaccinated person, it has less of a chance of surviving but if it does it will try to change its form," said Dr. Sandhu.
Kaufman is a two-time cancer survivor and has two autoimmune diseases. He hopes he gets better and takes comfort in the fact he’s fully vaccinated.
He and Dr. Sandhu said too much time has passed for the vaccinated to be concerned about the newness of the vaccines.
“Don’t worry about what you don’t know, just worry about what we know, and that’s the vaccine works," said Dr. Sandhu.
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