Energy News Beat Publishers Note: There may be a dip in demand on the fear of the new variant B.1.1.529. That being said, the Texas Department of Health posted the following on their website. I have one question if the tests are not able to detect the Delta Variant, why can we assume that 90% of the cases are the Delta variant? I personally have had Covid twice and both the shots. Looking at the numbers of countries that are facing riots in protest for lockdowns, one could wonder how much the demand would be affected.
How can I tell if I have the Delta variant? Do labs report that to the state?
That information may not be readily available. The viral tests that are used to determine if a person has COVID-19 are not designed to tell you what variant is causing the infection. Detecting the Delta variant, or other variants, requires a special type of testing called genomic sequencing. Due to the volume of COVID-19 cases, sequencing is not performed on all viral samples. However, because the Delta variant now accounts for the majority of COVID-19 cases in the United States, there is a strong likelihood that a positive test result indicates infection with the Delta variant.
Are the symptoms different for the Delta variant? If so, what are they?
Because Delta is a variant of the same virus—SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID 19—the symptoms and the emergency warning signs are the same. However, some variants may spread more easily or may cause more severe symptoms and illness. Because of this, scientists are actively monitoring and studying these variants to learn more about how easily they spread, whether they make people more or less sick, and how well they respond to existing vaccines, treatments, and tests.
Is Texas tracking the Delta variant?
Yes. Public health officials at the federal, state, and local levels continue to study variants, monitor their spread, develop strategies to slow their spread, and test how variants may respond to existing therapies, vaccines, and testing. For information on variants of concern in Texas, see the News Updates > COVID-19 Variants section of the DSHS website. However, because sequencing is performed on only a small sample of positive test results, there are more variant cases in Texas than have been reported to DSHS.
From Bloomberg:
U.S. stocks slid as a post-Thanksgiving selloff spread across global markets amid fears a new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa could spark fresh outbreaks and scuttle a fragile economic recovery. Haven assets surged.
Equity benchmarks dropped across the board, with cyclicals and small-caps taking the brunt of the selling. The S&P 500 Index declined 1.9% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000 sank at least 2.5%. Travel and leisure stocks tumbled, while stay-at-home shares gained. That helped ease losses in the Nasdaq 100, which was still down 1.5%.
Treasuries jumped, sending the 10-year yield down 13 basis points, while traders pushed back expectations for rate increases. The Japanese yen emerged as the main haven currency of the day, with the dollar falling. Oil tumbled toward $70 a barrel in New York and gold climbed.
The World Health Organization and scientists in South Africa were said to be working “at lightning speed” to ascertain how quickly the B.1.1.529 variant can spread and whether it’s resistant to vaccines. The new threat adds to the wall of worry investors are already contending with in the form of elevated inflation, monetary tightening and slowing growth.
“It’s terrible news,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote, said in emailed comments. “The new Covid variant could hit the economic recovery, but this time, the central banks won’t have enough margin to act. They can’t fight inflation and boost growth at the same time. They have to choose.”
