August is proving to be the worst month yet for new COVID cases. More than 116,000 people tested positive across the country on Friday. Just a month ago, few would have predicted the numbers would grow so much. According to The New York Times: “The Delta variant continues to drive case and death numbers up across the country. Daily caseloads have increased tenfold since late June. Death reports, which can lag well behind case data, have doubled. More coronavirus patients are hospitalized than at any point since February.“
Several states actually have more cases per capita than any country in the world. Forbes writes:
“Louisiana has more cases of Covid-19 per capita than any country in the world, reporting 120 new cases per day, per 100,000 people, according to data compiled by the New York Times.”
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1426185092238503938 Florida broke its own record for cases, almost every day this past week. In the last seven days, more than 151,000 people tested positive. https://twitter.com/CBSMiami/status/1426299240968597510
Hawaii, which was spared the worst of COVID in the first wave, is now reporting more cases than at any other time during the pandemic. Many hospitals around the country are full, with ICUs overflowing. Some people are reportedly waiting days to get a bed. https://twitter.com/kwtx/status/1426506457932091393 COVID has now claimed more than 621,000 lives in the United States. Watch more from CBS This Morning above.