State Health officials confirmed an unvaccinated Hidalgo County resident has the first case of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 in the county, Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez announced Thursday.

The person who contracted this variant is a 33-year-old male from the mid-valley area of Hidalgo County, according to a news release from the county.

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This person had not received any COVID-19 vaccine, but had traveled extensively both in-state and out of state, the release stated. 

“The individual tested positive for COVID-19 after being hospitalized out of state,” the release stated. “He returned home and traveled again to the North Texas area where he was hospitalized once again. It was there that state officials determined he had the Delta variant. The individual was never hospitalized in Hidalgo County.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that evidence suggests the Delta variant is more transmissible than the other variants of the COVID-19 virus. The Delta variant has now been identified in as many as 60 countries.

“This is why it is so important for all of us to get vaccinated," Cortez said. "We must continue to take this disease seriously.”

Early indications suggest that the three vaccines given emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration are effective against this variant, but these vaccines are designed to lessen the effects of COVID-19, not prevent them.

Before Thursday, 23 people in Hidalgo County had been diagnosed with different variants of COVID-19 including:

• •         16 people had been diagnosed with the British variant
• •         6 people had been diagnosed with the Brazilian variant
• •         And 1 person had been diagnosed with the California variant