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For quite a few weeks now, Americans have heard about the Delta variant of coronavirus. The word now is that this variant is much more contagious than just regular COVID; furthermore, there are certain claims that the Delta variant is more likely to have an impact on children. Late last week, Americans learned from the Biden administration that 50% of the nation is now inoculated against COVID; yet, for all this talk about the almighty vaccine, there are a plethora of reports documenting vaccinated people catching the virus. Francis Collins, the current National Institutes of Health director, is now sounding the alarm as it pertains to COVID.

Francis Collins on coronavirus and the Delta variant

Just earlier this month, Collins stated on national TV that parents should be wearing face masks at home in front of their children; after getting blowback for this, Collins attempted to walk back the statement. Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio also called out the NIH director on this matter; Rubio slammed the ridiculous notion of telling parents to mask up at home in front of their kids. The Republican lawmaker also pointed out that idiocy such as this is what ultimately leads to people tuning out health officials like Collins. However, Collins still remains in the public eye. Some of his latest rhetoric regarding the Delta variant is quite grim. According to the NIH director, America is "failing" and never should have reached our current position regarding COVID. Moreover, Collins maintains that if more individuals had the COVID vaccine, the Delta variant wouldn't be spreading at its current rate. In making this claim, Collins did not acknowledge that many fully inoculated people are catching the virus; this appears to infer that COVID vaccines are weakened or made less effective by the Delta variant.

Tuning out COVID coverage?

Many Americans feel frustrated with the current coverage surrounding COVID. Some people have even stated on social media that they believe announcement of new variants will come for the purposes of ratcheting up fear. The mixed messaging and contradictions from health officials do not ease these types of concerns either.