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By Roshan Abraham and Maria Caspani
(Reuters) – The United States hit a six-month high for new COVID cases with more than 100,000 infections reported on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, as the Delta variant ravages areas where people have no not been vaccinated.
The country is reporting more than 94,819 cases over an average of seven days, a five-fold increase in less than a month, Reuters data showed through Wednesday. The seven-day average provides the most accurate picture of how fast cases are increasing, as some states report infections only once a week or only on weekdays. (U.S. Case and Death Chart) https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR
Seven U.S. states with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates – Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi – account for half of the country’s new cases and hospitalizations in the past week, the coordinator said White House COVID-19 reporters Jeff Zients Thursday.
In the coming weeks, cases could double to 200,000 per day due to the highly contagious Delta variant, America’s leading infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday.
“If another comes along that has an equally high transmit capacity but is also much more serious, then we could really be in trouble,” Fauci said in an interview with McClatchy https://www.mcclatchydc.com/ news / coronavirus /article253248688.html. “People who do not get the vaccine mistakenly think it is theirs. But it is not. It affects everyone, too.”
To combat the surge in the delta, the United States is planning to give booster shots to Americans with weakened immune systems, leading US infectious disease expert Dr.Anthony Fauci said Thursday.
United States joins Germany, France and Israel in giving booster shots, ignoring World Health Organization call to wait until more people around the world can receive their first injection.
OVERVIEW OF FLORIDA
Southern states, which have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, report the most COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Florida, Texas and Louisiana reported the highest total number of new cases in the region over the past week, according to a Reuters analysis.
Florida, which has become the national hotbed of new infections, set another dismal hospitalization record on Thursday with 12,373 confirmed COVID-19 patients in its hospitals, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS ).
More children are hospitalized with the virus in Florida than in any other U.S. state, according to HHS data.
“23% of new COVID-related hospitalizations in the United States are in Florida, and their hospitals are again overwhelmed,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday. Psaki urged state governor Republican Ron DeSantis to “join us in this fight” after DeSantis accused Biden of choosing his state.
Louisiana and Arkansas are also grappling with a record or near record number of coronavirus patients occupying beds, according to a Reuters tally.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Republican leaders in Florida and Texas – which are home to about a third of all new COVID-19 cases in the United States – to follow public health guidelines on the pandemic or ‘s’ discard ”.
In an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, New York City will require proof of vaccination at restaurants, gyms and other businesses.
Some private companies also mandate vaccines for employees and customers.
As Delta spreads, some companies are delaying the return of workers to the office. Amazon.com, which originally set Sept. 7 as the return date, said Thursday it would not expect employees at U.S. companies to return to the office until next year, according to an internal memo viewed by Reuters.
(Reporting by Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru and Maria Caspani in New York; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Susan Heavey, Carl O’Donnell and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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