‘We are on fire:’ Five U.S. states set new records for Covid cases as hospitalizations rise

The surging delta variant has hit the Gulf Coast notably laborious, pushing hospitals to their limits. To attempt to curb the outbreak in Louisiana, officers in July really useful masks indoors for everybody, no matter whether or not or not they have been vaccinated. They reintroduced a statewide masks mandate on Aug. 2 after it was apparent that wasn’t working and cases stored climbing.

Everyone should now put on masks indoors no matter their vaccination standing, together with all college students from kindergarten via faculty.

Louisiana has the fifth-lowest vaccination fee of any state within the nation with 38.3% of its inhabitants absolutely immunized in opposition to the coronavirus, in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana reported a record-high seven-day common of greater than 5,800 new Covid cases as of Sunday, a rise of practically 27% from per week in the past, in line with Hopkins information.

Louisiana recorded a seven-day common of 44 Covid-related deaths as of Sunday, over 46% greater than per week prior. Almost half of the state’s 882 reported ICU beds have been occupied by coronavirus sufferers as of Monday, in contrast with a nationwide common of 25%, in accordance the Department of Health and Human Services.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, pleaded Friday with residents to get vaccinated as the state scrambles to rent tons of of momentary docs, nurses and EMTs.

He’s additionally requested ventilators from the Strategic National Stockpile as the unfold of the delta variant fills hospitals within the state with principally unvaccinated sufferers. Almost 55% of Mississippi’s ICU beds have been full of Covid sufferers as of Monday, and the state’s seven-day common of practically 3,300 new coronavirus cases as of Sunday jumped 57% from per week in the past.

“When you look across the country, to a certain extent, this current wave is the pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Reeves mentioned at a press convention. “We continue to see more and more data, and the data is becoming more and more clear. Those who received the vaccine are significantly less likely to contract the virus.”

Mississippi has the nation’s second-lowest coronavirus vaccination fee, with 35.8% of its inhabitants absolutely immunized as of Sunday. The state’s dying toll additionally hit a seven-day common of 20, up nearly 80% from per week in the past.

Florida reported a report 151,764 new Covid cases for the week on Friday, reaching a new seven-day common of 21,681 cases per day — greater than another state. More than half of the ICU beds within the state are occupied by Covid sufferers, in line with HHS information.

Florida’s surge in cases comes as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to withstand calls from the Biden administration and state advocacy teams to implement masks mandates and different pandemic-related measures to assist include the huge outbreak. He signed an government order and regulation in May that lifted all Covid restrictions throughout the state and completely blocked native officers from enacting new ones beginning July 1.

In late July, DeSantis issued a controversial government order that blocked masks mandates within the state’s faculties, overruling two counties that required face coverings for their college students.

Though Hawaii’s outbreak is comparatively small in contrast with most mainland states, cases there have repeatedly been reaching new records since mid-July, hitting a seven-day common of 671 new cases per day on Sunday, in line with Hopkins’ information.

That’s a greater than sevenfold leap from 89 cases per day a month in the past. The current surge in cases have caught well being officers unexpectedly and is beginning to pressure its hospital techniques. The complete variety of hospitalizations on the islands is 3,030, with 552 deaths recorded for the reason that starting of the pandemic.

“We are on fire. When we have hospitals that are really worried about being able to take care of people, that’s a crisis,’ Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Char said at a press conference last week. “When we see this exponential development within the quantity of those that are getting contaminated with Covid-19 each day — 2,000 folks within the final three days — that is a disaster. And on the level at which we overwhelm our sources, that is a catastrophe.”

Hospitalization rates in Hawaii and Oregon, however, aren’t as high as other states. Nationwide, less than 11% of all hospital beds are being used by Covid patients. In Oregon, it’s 11.4%, Hawaii is at 12.1% followed by Louisiana at 20.4%, Mississippi at 18.7% and Florida at 28.2%, according to HHS data.

Hospital bed capacity correlates very closely with vaccination rates. The states with higher vaccination rates are seeing fewer Covid patients take up hospital beds. Oregon’s fully vaccinated 56.6% of its residents followed by Hawaii at 54%, Florida at 50.3%, Louisiana at 37.8% and Mississippi at 35.4%, according to CDC data.

“That is why Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi are hurting with mattress capability, and ascending dying charges; whereas Oregon and Hawaii are hurting with explosive case charges, however with excessive vaccination and masking charges, might not ever be in the identical precarious place,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at University of California in San Francisco.

As of Sunday, the national seven-day average of new cases stands at 130,710, an increase of 20% from the previous seven-day average, according to Hopkins data. The seven-day average for Covid deaths nationwide rose to 687, up 36% from the previous average.

“We know what the instruments are, and now this now comes all the way down to coverage and political resolution makers’ worth judgement to find out which instruments they need to implement,” Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious illness knowledgeable at University of Toronto, advised CNBC.