The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging people to get the COVID vaccine as the Delta variant continues to rapidly spread through the entire country.
According to the latest figures, the current seven-day moving average of daily new cases of COVID-19 currently stands at 40,246, a 46.7 percent increase from the previous seven-day average of 22,443.
The CDC said COVID cases are on the rise in nearly 90 percent of jurisdictions across the U.S., with outbreaks occurring in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage.
Figures show the current seven-day moving average of new deaths stands at 223, an increase of more than 9 percent from the previous seven-day moving average of 204.
The amount of people who are being hospitalized in the U.S with COVID is also increasing. The CDC reports that the seven-day average between July 13 and July 19 for hospital admissions was 3,521—a 32.2 percent increase from the previous seven-day average of 2,663.
The CDC warned that the seven-day moving average for new admissions has now consistently increased since June 25.
The increase in new COVID cases across the country is due to the presence of the Delta variant, the strain which accounts for more than 83 percent of recent cases in the U.S.
The strain, which was first identified in India, spreads far more easily from person to person and contributes to the increased hospitalization. The Delta variant is also capable of infecting fully vaccinated people at a greater rate than previous strains.
Despite this, the CDC is also confident that COVID-19 is now a "preventable disease" and encourages more people to get their first or second vaccination shots in order to strongly protect themselves from infection and reduce the risk of serious illness or death after getting the virus.
"The best way to slow the emergence of new variants is to reduce the spread of infection by taking measures to protect yourself, including getting a vaccine when it's available to you," the CDC said.
According to figures, nearly half of all people in the U.S. are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with more than 163 million receiving both shots.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the nation's top infectious diseases expert, has warned that the country is "going in the wrong direction" with regards to COVID numbers, while also urging people to get vaccinated.
"This is an issue predominantly among the unvaccinated, which is the reason why we're out there, practically pleading with the unvaccinated people to go out and get vaccinated," Fauci told CNN's State on the Union on Sunday.
Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, added that the rise in the Delta variant comes at a time when several states are not requiring people to wear masks indoors anymore.
"It's a double whammy," Topol told Reuters. "The last thing you want is to loosen restrictions when you're confronting the most formidable version of the virus yet."
This graph, provided by Statista, shows the percentage of people who are fully vaccinated in each state.
