Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to increase as the Delta variant spreads throughout all 50 U.S. states.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the average number of daily COVID-19 cases last week was 32,278. That’s 145 percent higher than the rate two weeks ago.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the number of hospitalizations increased by 50 percent in the past two weeks to about 24,923 a day.
The Delta variant spreads faster than previous strains and more than 97 percent of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a briefing Friday.
However, only about 49 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, according to data from the CDC. Health experts say vaccine hesitancy is fueling the new rapid spread of the virus.
In Los Angeles County, the rate of new coronavirus cases has increased 300 percent since July 4 and hospitalizations have more than doubled, the county health department said.
This rise has prompted Los Angeles and other counties in California to reinstate indoor mask mandates.
“This is a pandemic overwhelmingly and disproportionately of those that have not been vaccinated,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday.
As the Delta variant spreads, sending teenagers and vaccinated adults to the hospital, the American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending schools require facemasks for children older than 2 and all adults, regardless of their vaccine status.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CBS This Morning the academy wants to “go the extra mile” to make sure kids are protected at school because of the rise in cases blamed on the delta variant of the coronavirus.
While the CDC only recommended mask-wearing in schools for unvaccinated individuals, Fauci said the CDC is “carefully looking” at its COVID-19 school guidance.
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Delta variant accounts for 83% of U.S. coronavirus cases
Health officials said Tuesday that the Delta variant now accounts for an estimated 83 percent of all U.S. COVID-19 cases.
“The best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants is to prevent the spread of disease, and vaccination is the most powerful tool we have,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday.
The Delta variant only accounted for about 50 percent of all coronavirus cases during the week of July 3.
CDC Director Walensky tells Congress that the Delta variant now makes up 83 percent of sequenced cases in the US, “a dramatic increase” that she warns is likely higher in areas with low vaccination rates.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 20, 2021
