Story at a glance
- New coronavirus cases in the U.S. have nearly doubled over the last three weeks due to the delta variant, Fourth of July celebrations and continued vaccine hesitancy.
- An analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University shows new reported cases rose from 11,300 cases on June 23 to 23,600 on Monday.
- “It is certainly no coincidence that we are looking at exactly the time that we would expect cases to be occurring after the July Fourth weekend,” an expert told The Associated Press.
New coronavirus cases in the U.S. have nearly doubled over the last three weeks with the rise of the highly infectious delta variant and continued vaccine hesitancy in particular regions.
An analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University shows new reported cases rose from 11,300 cases on June 23 to 23,600 on Monday, according to The Associated Press (AP). Experts told the AP that in addition to vaccine hesitance, the Fourth of July holiday is a likely contributor to the number of new cases.
“It is certainly no coincidence that we are looking at exactly the time that we would expect cases to be occurring after the July Fourth weekend,” Bill Powderly, co-director of the infectious-disease division at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, told the AP.
Still, the rise in cases falls well short of the peak period in the U.S. when daily deaths reached more than 3,400. But the increase in cases continues to accelerate, with the country reporting more than 32,000 cases on Tuesday.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CORONAVIRUS RIGHT NOW
NEW JOHNS HOPKINS MAP SHOWS COVID-19 CASES RISING ACROSS AMERICA
WHO SAYS ‘CATASTROPHIC WAVES’ OF NEW DELTA VARIANT CASES ARE DRIVEN BY GREED
FAUCI SAYS VACCINES SHOULD BE MANDATED LOCALLY ACROSS THE COUNTRY
THE DELTA VARIANT IS SPIKING IN THESE FOUR US STATES
TOP HEALTH EXPERT SAYS VACCINATED PEOPLE ARE SPREADING DELTA VARIANT
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows nearly 68 percent of U.S adults have received one vaccine dose, while 48.1 percent of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated. The AP reported that five states with the biggest increase in cases have lower partial vaccination rates than the national average — and experts warn regional vaccine hesitancy and relaxed restrictions could usher in a period of turmoil brought on by the delta variant.
“The descriptions from regions of the world where the delta variant has taken hold and become the predominant virus are pictures of ICUs full of 30-year-olds. That’s what the critical care doctors describe and that’s what’s coming to the U.S.,” James Lawler of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha told the AP.
“I think people have no clue what’s about to hit us,” he concluded.
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President Biden announced last week his administration is addressing the increasing cases with the mobilization of “surge response units.” The president said experts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government agencies will fan out to areas struggling to contain the virus.
“They’re going to help states that have particular problems prevent, detect and respond to the spread of the delta variant among unvaccinated people in communities with low vaccination rates,” Biden said. “And some states have very low vaccination rates.”
Biden said the persistent threat of variants should shift the thinking of vaccine hesitant Americans, arguing that “their communities are at risk, their friends are at risk, the people that they care about are at risk.”
“It seems to me it should cause everybody to think twice. And it should cause reconsideration, especially in young people who may have thought that they didn’t have to be vaccinated, didn’t have to worry about it, didn’t have to do anything about it up to now.”
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