President Biden and health experts are urging Americans to get vaccinated as new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise.
The U.S. in turn has renewed its ‘public health emergency’ status for another 90 days. Meanwhile, the highly transmissible Delta variant has become the latest threat in combating the virus and surges.
“It has the capability of transmitting efficiently from human to human in an extraordinary manner, well beyond any of the variants we’ve experienced up to now,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The Delta variant makes up more than 80% of all new COVID cases in the U.S. Among the unvaccinated, 97% are hospitalized and deaths are at 99.5%.
Florida made up 20% of last week’s newest COVID cases, according to the White House.
“Each death is tragic and even more heartbreaking when we know that the majority of these deaths could be prevented with a simple, safe, available vaccine,” says CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
