The Grand Traverse County Health Department (GTCHD) reports that the Delta variant of COVID-19 has arrived locally. The GTCHD reports that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) State Laboratory notified the department of the first case of the Delta (B.1.617.2.) variant through routine lab surveillance of testing samples.

The Delta variant is now the dominant strain circulating in the U.S. As of July 20, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that the highly transmissible variant accounted for 83 percent of all new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., up from 51 percent just two weeks ago. The GTCHD continues to urge anyone that is unvaccinated to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others around them. The GTCHD says it is also now offering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at its Cherryland Center location in addition to Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccines.