Pandemic of unvaccinated rages with delta?s spread; cases up in all 50 states

Right now, the states with the highest averages for daily new cases per 100,000 people are Arkansas, Missouri, Florida, Louisiana, and Nevada, which all have below-average vaccination rates. In a White House press briefing last Friday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reiterated that more than 97 percent of COVID-19 patients entering hospitals nationwide are unvaccinated.Along with the low vaccination rates, the spread of the delta coronavirus variant is behind the bleak surges. Helping the hyper-transmissible variant spread is the fact that it arrived just as many people in US began letting their guard down, easing mask use and physical distancing.Fully vaccinated people are largely protected from delta; the current vaccines are still highly effective against developing COVID-19 from delta and other variants of concern. Among fully vaccinated people, 72 percent reported being concerned about the variant.Despite the fact that the current COVID-19 vaccines have proven highly effective and safe, 53 percent of those who are unvaccinated or partly vaccinated said in the poll that they are concerned about side effects.