The province’s latest COVID briefing takes place this afternoon at 2:00.

VOCM News will carry it live.

COVID-19 and the highly contagious Delta variant “is a scary virus for those who are unvaccinated.”

That’s according to Dr. Lisa Barrett, an assistant professor in the department of medicine at Dalhousie University.

The Delta variant has been largely responsible for recent clusters of COVID cases in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“This Delta variant for people who aren’t vaccinated can be up to 36 times more disease-causing,” says Dr. Barrett,  resulting in higher numbers of hospitalizations and ICU admissions.

Dr. Barrett is stressing that the vaccine not only helps to protect someone from becoming seriously ill, but it also helps to limit transmission.

She says that while the virus spreads easily, it spreads less-easily among those who are vaccinated.

Transmission is not completely preventable, however, which is why wearing a mask in public is still a good idea according to Dr. Barrett.