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Eight fully-vaccinated health workers caught COVID-19 at a Las Vegas pool party.
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They all got symptoms similar to allergies or the common cold, per the Las Vegas Review Journal.
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At least seven of them caught the highly infectious Delta variant, the report said.
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Eleven healthcare workers caught COVID-19 at a pool party in Las Vegas – and eight of them were fully-vaccinated.
At least 10 of the 11 people caught the highly infectious Delta variant, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported, citing emails from the local health district.
Todd P Sklamberg, chief executive officer at the Sunrise Hospital, told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the outbreak came from an off-site private party that all eleven attended on June 7.
Sklamberg said that the 11 health workers got symptoms similar to allergies or the common cold and chose to get tested. They then self-isolated, and didn’t spread the virus to anyone else, a preliminary investigation requested by Southern Nevada Health District found, per the Review Journal.
Eight were fully vaccinated, two had received one dose of vaccine, and one was unvaccinated, the Review Journal reported, citing emails from Southern Nevada Health District obtained by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation and shared with the Review Journal.
The emails also showed that at least 10 of the people caught the Delta variant, the Review Journal reported.
It’s not clear from the report which COVID-19 vaccines the workers had received.
Stephanie Bethel, representative at South Nevada Health District, told the Review Journal that the investigation found the COVID-19 vaccines given to the health workers were properly stored and administered. No vaccine was 100% effective and breakthrough infections were expected, she added.
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The highly infectious Delta variant is now dominant in the US, and Delta is causing about 80% of new COVID-19 infections in Nevada.
Real-world data from the UK showed that Pfizer’s vaccine, as an example, was 33% effective against symptomatic illnesses caused by the Delta variant after one dose, and 88% effective after two, meaning that roughly 12% of people who receive Pfizer’s shot are at risk of infection.
It’s hard to tell how many vaccinated Americans are getting infected with Delta, because on May 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped monitoring all reported cases among vaccinated people, focusing instead on those resulting in hospitalization or death. The Las Vegas health worker cases wouldn’t have been picked up by the CDC.
The breakthrough cases in vaccinated people don’t reflect wider trends in Nevada – KTNV reported Tuesday that 80% of hospital beds at Las Vegas’ Southern Hills hospital were filled with unvaccinated people, and nearly 100% of the patients in the intensive care unit were unvaccinated.
Brian Labus, assistant professor in epidemiology at the University of Nevada School of Public Health, told the Review Journal that vaccines were like wearing a seat belt in a car. “Just because there’s the occasional death of somebody who is wearing the seat belt when the car crash occurs doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wear a seat belt. It’s going to protect most people for the most part,” he said.
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