These vaccinated Houstonians got COVID breakthrough infections. Delta may be to blame.
Local // Health
Lisa Gray, Staff writer
July 31, 2021 Updated: Aug. 2, 2021 10:13 a.m.
Karen Bernstein, behind her window at home, Thursday, July 29, 2021, in Houston. Bernstein, a retired NASA engineer, was fully vaccinated in February, but about a week ago she got started feeling awfully sick and she tested positive for COVID.
Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less
Chris Russo — a Houston-area consultant in good health, fully vaccinated, with no pre-existing conditions — thought he had a sinus infection, nothing more. He got tested only because his summer trip to Europe required it.
Karen Bernstein, a retired NASA engineer in Houston, was fully vaccinated too, and said she had "no known exposure except for living in this county at this dumb time." She was getting ready for a big family reunion — her parents were coming to town, and her niece was visiting — when her throat felt sore and her bowels began to rumble.
Kristina Woods and her husband, who's high-risk, were both fully vaccinated too. On July 11, when Kristina called from the airport, her husband said he felt too sick to pick her up. He ended up hospitalized for seven days. And though she wasn't admitted to the hospital, she was clearly sick too: Her lungs ached so badly that she didn't want to lie down to sleep, lest they fill up with pneumonia.
They all had "breakthrough infections." COVID-19 had eluded their vaccinations.
"The war has changed," declared the internal document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document that prompted the agency to revise its recommendations this week. (The Washington Post has posted the leaked document on its website.)
With the delta variant roaring through parts of the U.S., including the Houston area, the CDC changed its advice for vaccinated people. Director Rochelle Walensky urged vaccinated people to return to mask-wearing in public indoor places if they live in high-transmission communities; or if they live with vulnerable people, such as young children or someone whose immune system is compromised.
On HoustonChronicle.com: What you need to know about the delta variant
It was always expected that some fully vaccinated people would be infected with COVID-19. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were said to be 90% effective, meaning that a vaccinated person was only one-tenth as likely to be infected as an unvaccinated person. When you're dealing with tens of millions of vaccinated people, breakthroughs can simultaneously be relatively rare and number in the thousands.
But more than any other strain seen so far, once in the human body, delta multiplies like crazy. A Chinese study found that the "viral load" in delta infections — basically, the number of viruses in the body — is roughly 1,000 times higher than with the original strain.
Most likely, more virus in the body means more virus available to be exhaled. According to the CDC, delta is more infectious than the seasonal flu or the common cold, and roughly as infectious as chicken pox.
Unlike previous variants, delta appears to be spread even by vaccinated people. Friday, the CDC published a sobering case study of the outbreak that exploded out of July 4 celebrations in Provincetown, Mass. Of the 469 cases examined, roughly three-quarters were in fully vaccinated people. Of those breakthrough cases, roughly 80 percent had symptoms, and 1 percent were hospitalized. No deaths were reported.
The good news is that vaccines still offer serious protection to the people who've received them. According to the CDC document, unvaccinated people are now eight times more likely than fully vaccinated people to contract COVID; 25 times more likely to end up in the hospital; and 25 times more likely to die.
Broken through
Kristina Woods' husband is home, but as of mid-week, he still needed oxygen. Kristina is isolating, struggling to breathe. Oregano oil helps a little, she said. She feels like she has an iron band around her lungs.
Besides feeling wretched, Karen Bernstein is frustrated that her family gathering was wrecked. She told her parents not to visit, but her niece had already arrived and may have been exposed. Bernstein's daughter is coughing. Everyone is isolating.
On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas passes New York in COVID-19 deaths
Chris Russo, who tested positive in early July, never got fever or chills. He did lose his senses of taste and smell, but they've mostly returned now. Without the vaccine, he said, "I'd hate to think what the symptoms would have been."
Last week, after a clear COVID test, he left for his delayed trip to Europe.
lisa.gray@chron.com, twitter.com/LisaGray_HouTX
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Lisa Gray
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Lisa Gray is a senior writer on the features desk. Previously, she's held many of the Chronicle's most interesting jobs: Senior editor for digital, features enterprise editor, member of the editorial board, acting op-ed editor, columnist--and, most fun of all, founding editor of Gray Matters, the Chronicle site named "Best Blog" in Texas three years in a row.
Email her at lisa.gray@chron.com. Or follow her on Facebook, where she spends way too much time.
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