VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — As the COVID-19 delta variant surges across Central Florida, some experts are concerned about what could come next if vaccination rates don’t improve. 

At the Florida Department of Health of Flagler County, Health Officer Bob Snyder is happy to be back to work. A few weeks ago, he woke up with what he thought was allergies. 

“As the Saturday progressed, I was out and about doing things, and then all of the sudden about 7 to 8 other symptoms that are common to COVID just all surfaced at the same time,” said Snyder.

He went to the drug store and bought an Abbot rapid COVID-19 test. It confirmed his suspicions that he was positive for the virus. It came as a surprise to him, as he was vaccinated back in January. 

“I realized how lucky I was though to have been vaccinated because I can’t imagine what it possibly would have been like if I had not been vaccinated. I could have ended up in the hospital or even worse,” said Snyder.

Snyder claimed he represents the 1% of those vaccinated that became a breakthrough case. Given data from labs across the state, he is confident he was infected with the delta variant, which he said is the 90% dominant variant across the state and is as contagious as the common cold.

“The viral load is a thousand times more than any other previous known mutation, so it is very contagious. And that is why we are seeing such a tremendous spike throughout the state, here locally, too, in hospitalizations,” said Snyder. “Eight weeks ago, we were seeing five cases a day. Just yesterday, 80 cases a day. This past Sunday, 130 cases in a day that we are investigating.”

According to Snyder, 94% of those being hospitalized are unvaccinated.  

“What is does is that the vaccine prevents hospitalizations, severe disease and death so it is very important to be vaccinated,” said Snyder.

While Snyder shared that vaccinated people can still spread the delta variant, the more people that get vaccinated, the less opportunities the virus has to mutate. Snyder said there have been upwards of 15 mutations of COVID-19 in the last year and half, with Delta being the worst. 

“More mutations and variants will occur the longer that we are not in that state of herd immunity where that virus has a good chance of just dying a natural death,” said Snyder.

If that does happen and more people aren’t vaccinated,  Snyder believes we could end up in an even worse situation. 

“We could end up opening ourselves up to possibly a mutation or a variant that is not susceptible and responsive to the vaccine so that would be my main concern… time is of the essence now is the time  to act and all of us get vaccinated,” said Snyder.

Right now, Snyder shared that about 62% of all eligible Flagler residents are vaccinated. He says that number needs to be closer to 85% before herd immunity can be reached.