[NFA] U.S. COVID-19 infections are climbing in parts of the country with low vaccination rates, and former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned a new Delta variant would likely infect most unvaccinated Americans.
This report produced by Zachary Goelman.
New coronavirus infections are rising rapidly across the United States, driven by the highly-contagious Delta variant.
Nationwide, new U.S. COVID-19 cases surged 70% in the last week week to an average of 30,000 new daily infections.
Deaths rose 26% week-over-week, killing on average 250 patients a day.
The vast majority of cases and deaths are among those not yet vaccinated.
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned Sunday the caseload could get much worse, saying most of those who haven't received COVID-19 shots are very likely to contract the virus.
"This virus is so contagious, this variant is so contagious that it's going to infect the majority of them.
Most people will have been vaccinated, or have been previously infected, or they will get this Delta variant.
For most people who get this Delta variant, it's going to be the most serious virus they get in their lifetime, in terms of the risk of putting them in the hospital." Only 56 percent of Americans have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine.
Just under half the population is fully vaccinated.
And vaccination rates have slowed.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday warned that the outbreak is "becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated." "If you are not vaccinated, you remain at risk.
And our biggest concern is that we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations, and sadly, deaths, among the unvaccinated." The Biden Administration blamed part of problem on COVID-19 falsehoods spread on social media, demanding firms such as Facebook remove vaccine misinformation.
President Joe Biden on Friday put it in stark terms: "They're killing people.
I mean, it really, look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated.
And they're killing people." Facebook pushed back.
In a corporate blog post, the site said it promoted authoritative information about vaccines and acted against misinformation, adding "President Biden’s goal was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4.
Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed."
People who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 could potentially face the most serious virus in their lifetime. That’s according..
