CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb across the country, including right here in the Carolinas.
Many people are trying to pinpoint the exact cause for the spike in cases.
We have gotten several emails to our verify email address asking if the rise in cases is due to migrants crossing the border.
One Cabarrus County school board member even made a similar claim.
THE QUESTION
Are migrants the main reason for the rise in COVID-19 cases?
SOURCES
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- Dr. Charles Bregier, emergency medicine with Novant Health
- Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator
- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Chief Medical Advisor to the President
THE ANSWER
No, migrants are not the main reason for the rise in COVID-19 cases. The main reason for the recent surge can be chalked up to people who are not vaccinated.
WHAT WE FOUND
So far this year, CPB has had just over one-million encounters with people at our borders.
However, most people who are encountered are turned away. This is due to a public health law invoked by the Trump administration and continued by President Biden.
For those who stay, CPB says migrants are tested in custody for COVID-19 if they start showing symptoms. All migrants are tested when they leave Border Patrol custody, whether they are staying in the U.S. to claim asylum or are being deported.
According to NBC News, more than 18% of migrant families and 20% of unaccompanied minors who recently crossed the U.S. border tested positive for COVID-19 on leaving Border Patrol custody over the past two to three weeks.
But experts say the explosion in new cases, driven by the highly transmissible delta variant is not showing up only at the border. It's surging in places where vaccination rates are low.
"A lot of what we're seeing in our communities is really what's been called the pandemic of the unvaccinated because so many of the people who are getting COVID-19 now are unvaccinated. So we're seeing the highest transmission rates in states and counties that have low vaccination rates, and similarly, the highest hospitalization rates in those same areas," according to Dr. Bregier.
Those states include Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.
These states, along with a few others account for most of the cases across the U.S.
According to Jeff Zients, "States with some of the lowest vaccination rates account for about half of new cases and hospitalizations in the past week, despite making up less than a quarter of the U.S. population."
Experts say getting vaccinated is the key to lowering the case count.
"If we continue to vaccinate and get those 93 million people who are eligible for vaccinations who have not been vaccinated, if we do that in the immediate, intermediate and long term and do the mitigation right now, we will turn the Delta surge around. I will guarantee you that that will happen" says Dr. Fauci.
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.