As Delta Surges, So Does Frustration Over Vaccine Holdouts

Politico: Alabama Governor Says ‘It’s Time To Start Blaming The Unvaccinated Folks’ As Pandemic Worsens
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued an impassioned plea for residents of her state to get vaccinated against Covid-19, arguing it was “time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks” for the disease’s continued spread. “I want folks to get vaccinated. That’s the cure. That prevents everything,” Ivey, a Republican, told reporters in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday. “Why would we want to mess around with just temporary stuff?” she said. “We don’t need to encourage people to just go halfway with curing this disease. Let’s get it done. And we know what it takes to get it done.” (Forgey, 7/23)

USA Today: COVID-19 Surge Could Go On For Months, Projection Says
New projections released by a COVID-19 research consortium forecast the current surge of cases lasting through the fall and peaking in mid-October, accelerated in part by the rapid spread of the delta variant. Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist from the University of North Carolina who helps run the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, told NPR in the most likely scenario, of the four scenarios included in the ensemble projection, only 70% of eligible U.S. residents get vaccinated and the delta variant becomes 60% more transmissible. Lessler said this trajectory would climax with approximately 60,000 COVID-19 cases and 850 deaths each day in mid-October. (Santucci and Segarra, 7/24)

Stat: A New Way To Visualize The Surge In Covid-19 Cases In The U.S. 
The month of July has seen Covid-19 cases in the United States increase at the fastest pace since last winter, marking the start of the latest wave of infections to afflict the nation. A new STAT analysis of Covid-19 case data reveals this new wave is already outpacing the spring and summer waves of 2020. There are many metrics that governments, scientists, and media outlets have used to try and reckon with the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the most popular ways of visualizing Covid data has been to track the weekly average of new cases. This is pictured below. (Parker, 7/26)

AP: States Scale Back Virus Reporting Just As Cases Surge
Several states scaled back their reporting of COVID-19 statistics this month just as cases across the country started to skyrocket, depriving the public of real-time information on outbreaks, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in their communities. The shift to weekly instead of daily reporting in Florida, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota marked a notable shift during a pandemic in which coronavirus dashboards have become a staple for Americans closely tracking case counts and trends to navigate a crisis that has killed more than 600,000 people in the U.S. (Funk, 7/24)

In other updates on the covid surge across the U.S. —

The New York Times: 17 People Were Infected After Attending A Michigan Music Festival.
At least 17 people were infected with the coronavirus after they attended a country music festival in Michigan, health officials have said. The event, called the Faster Horses Festival, held July 16 to 18 in Brooklyn, Mich., was the state’s first major music festival since the pandemic began. Some of the people were at the festival while they were infectious, a statement from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said. (Delkic and Median, 7/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: An Unvaccinated Person Became Marin County's 1st COVID Fatality Since May
An unvaccinated Marin County resident who had been hospitalized with respiratory problems died on Wednesday, becoming the county’s first COVID-19 fatality in more than two months. Public health officials announced the death on Friday to underscore the virulent threat of the Delta variant and the importance of containing it through the one medical tool available. “This latest death has two lessons for us,” Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County public health officer, said in a statement. “The first is how good the Delta variant is at finding unvaccinated people, and the second is that unvaccinated people lack protection against severe illness and death.” (Hosseini, 7/24)

AP: Arizona: More Than 1K New COVID-19 Cases For 7th Day In Row
Health officials in Arizona on Sunday reported 1,508 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death. It marked the seventh consecutive day with at least 1,000 cases, the longest such streak since early March. The latest numbers pushed the state’s totals to 917,168 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago and 18,171 deaths. (7/25)

Houston Chronicle: COVID Hospitalizations In Texas Hit 4,000 For First Time Since March
The number of lab-confirmed COVID hospitalizations in Texas broke 4,000 on Friday for the first time since March, a worrying sign of the pandemic’s quick resurgence since the Delta variant was discovered in the state. The milestone comes amid rising COVID cases and hospitalizations across the country, especially in states with below-average vaccination rates. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that unvaccinated Americans were driving infection numbers “in the wrong direction.” (Gill and Schuetz, 7/25)

KHN: Journalists Dig In On Delta Variant Risks And Opioid Overdose Deaths 
KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber discussed outbreaks caused by the covid-19 delta variant in Missouri and elsewhere on Newsy on Thursday. ... KHN correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed opioids and the rise in overdose deaths on Newsy’s “Morning Rush” on July 16. (7/24)

Also —

AP: Man Who Made Fun Of Vaccination Efforts On Social Media Dies Of Covid
A man who mocked Covid-19 vaccinations died this week at a Los Angeles-area hospital after contracting the virus.Stephen Harmon was 34.Harmon died on Wednesday at Corona Regional Medical Center, about an hour's drive east of Los Angeles. Stephen Harmon posted photos of himself in his hospital bed, wrote that he had pneumonia and critically low oxygen levels and was going to be intubated. In a tweet Wednesday, Harmon wrote: “Don’t know when I’ll wake up, please pray,” KCBS-TV reported. Three days before his death, Harmon tweeted: “If you don’t have faith that God can heal me over your stupid ventilator then keep the Hell out of my ICU room, there’s no room in here for fear or lack of faith!” (7/24)

The Washington Post: Alabama Mother Who Lost Son Curt Carpenter To Covid-19 Says Not Getting Vaccine Is Her Biggest Regret 
These days, Christy Carpenter finds strength in her family and faith. But on some days, one question keeps ringing in her head: “Why?” After weeks of battling through oxygen treatments, her 28-year-old son died in the hospital two months after being diagnosed with covid-19. ... “It took watching my son die and me suffering the effects of covid for us to realize we need the vaccine,” the mother said. “We did not get vaccinated when we had the opportunity and regret that so much now.” (Paul, 7/25)

AP: Unvaccinated Snow Leopard At San Diego Zoo Catches Covid-19
An unvaccinated snow leopard at the San Diego Zoo has contracted Covid-19.Caretakers noticed that Ramil, a 9-year-old male snow leopard, had a cough and runny nose on Thursday. Later, two separate tests of his stool confirmed the presence of the coronavirus, the zoo said in a statement Friday. (7/24)