The highly contagious Delta variant is now making up nearly a third, 26.8%, of new COVID-19 cases in the state–double what it was a month ago, as this new mutation becomes the dominant strain across the nation.

The Delta variant, first detected in India this late spring, now makes up 51% of all new cases across the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Previously, the so-called “Alpha variant” first detected in the United Kingdom, which is more contagious than the original COVID-19 strain but not as much as this new Delta variant, had become the dominant strain across the nation.

The Alpha variant, not the Delta variant, is still the Garden State’s dominant strain, according to top health officials. But it runs the risk of catching up.

Reports from the New Jersey Health Department show that Delta variant made up 26.8% of all new cases as of June 19, up from 15.% on June 12, 7.3% of all new cases on June 5, 5.1% of all new cases on May 29 and 3.1% of all new cases on May 22.

“In states that have relatively low vaccination rates, we are seeing the impact of this highly transmissible variant with increasing hospitalizations and large outbreaks,” said New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

State health officials have managed to fully vaccinate more than 5 million people since mid-December, but hospitalizations and fatalities continue to persist among those who have not gotten the COVID-19 vaccine. July 6 marked the first day in New Jersey since the start of the pandemic without any COVID-19 fatalities.

“We do not have a pandemic among the vaccinated,” Gov. Phil Murphy said during a July 7 regular COVID-19 press briefing. “This is only a pandemic among the unvaccinated.”

Mass inoculations have been the key to permanently lifting the myriad of restrictions put in place to halt the spread of COVID-19, including mask mandates in public places, and capacity restrictions on businesses such as restaurants, gyms, retail and entertainment.

Murphy – who is seeking reelection this November – stressed that he would like to avoid reimposing such restrictions, which have become politically risky and harder for New Jerseyans to stomach.

In states such as Maryland, for the month of June, all their COVID-19 fatalities were among people who were unvaccinated.

New Jersey reported that 99 of the COVID-19 deaths between June 1 and 21 were among those who hadn’t gotten the vaccine, compared to just three people who passed away even after receiving the vaccine.

“It is our sense that the overwhelming amount of folks who are passing away … are unvaccinated,” Murphy said. “Folks that are going into the hospital, today, are overwhelmingly, if not completely unvaccinated.

Health officials stressed that the Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson shots are all thoroughly effective against the variant.

“The protection you get from vaccines against disease … is still way better than not getting a vaccine at all where you have zero protection,” Christina Tan, the state epidemiologist, said on July 7.