More than 80% of U.S. states reported an increase in COVID-19 cases last week, as more contagious variants of the coronavirus gain a foothold and vaccination rates continue to sputter.
Only Alaska, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia saw a decline over the most recent seven-day period, which ended Saturday, USA Today reported.
As of Monday, fewer than half of all Americans — or 48% — are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said more than 99% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. last month were among unvaccinated people.
Meanwhile, the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus, which has driven recent outbreaks worldwide, is now considered the dominant strain in the U.S., accounting for more than half of the country’s new cases, the CDC said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the White House’s chief medical adviser, said he was taken aback over the weekend by people at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas cheering the government’s struggle to vaccinate the population.
“It’s horrifying,” Dr. Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “They are cheering about someone saying that it’s a good thing for people not to try and save their lives. It’s almost frightening.”
