COVID-19 cases, deaths, hospitalizations skyrocket from last year’s Labor Day

COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations skyrocketed this Labor Day in comparison to Labor Day 2020.

The Washington Post COVID-19 tracker found that hospitalizations on Labor Day in 2021 reached 99,270 individuals, up from 38,192 people in 2020.

That is a 160 percent increase in hospitalization over the past year, despite the U.S. having more than half of the country vaccinated.

Johns Hopkins University data showed there was a 316 percent increase in COVID-19 cases between the two Labor Days, USA Today reported.

COVID-19 deaths were also twice as high on the federal holiday compared to last year.

The rise in cases is led by the delta variant that has been devastating state hospital systems and causing some states to reimplement mask mandates and other restrictions.

The rise in cases also caused the U.S. to surge to more than 40 million total COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic, with more than 680,000 deaths. 

Although fully vaccinated people have also been catching the variant strain, it is much less likely for a fully vaccinated individual to go to the hospital or die from the virus.