After dropping to an average of 11,000 coronavirus cases per day in late June, the U.S. is now recording an average of 100,000 new infections per day as the delta variant has fueled surges among unvaccinated communities.
The virus is spreading like a wildfire through unvaccinated populations, especially in the South. Hospitals in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi have been overrun with patients.
The Hill is reporting that on Friday, Florida recorded 22,783 new coronavirus cases, the highest ever recorded in a single day in the state since the pandemic began.
The state also broke the record for hospitalizations for the fifth day in a row, with a total of 12,864 patients in hospital beds with COVID-19 infections across Florida.
“Our models show that if we don’t (vaccinate people), we could be up to several hundred thousand cases a day, similar to our surge in early January,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said on CNN this week.
The situation has become so bad that local healthcare systems are being pushed to the breaking point, according to the Associated Press. In Houston, Texas, officials say the latest wave of COVID-19 cases has resulted in some patients having to be transferred out of the city to get medical care, including one who had to be taken to North Dakota.
Dr. David Persse, who is health authority for the Houston Health Department and EMS medical director, said some ambulances were waiting hours to offload patients at Houston area hospitals because no beds were available.
“The health care system right now is nearly at a breaking point … For the next three weeks or so, I see no relief on what’s happening in emergency departments,” Persse said Thursday.
On Friday, the CDC released a study indicating that unvaccinated people were more than twice as likely as the fully vaccinated to get reinfected with COVID-19, countering arguments that natural immunity from an initial infection is enough to protect against the virus.
