The month-long surge of COVID cases across the U.S. is showing no signs of slowing down. Unfortunately, all but one state has seen infections rise over the past week, with hospitalizations and deaths following suit. But the national spike in COVID cases is being felt especially hard in certain states where surges have jumped considerably in recent days.
According to The New York Times, the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant has brought the national daily average to its highest levels since early February, jumping 118 percent over the past two weeks to 124,470 cases as of Aug. 9. Some experts have pointed out that such a spike—which is largely affecting those who are unvaccinated—could be a foreshadowing of what’s to come in the fight against the virus.
“I think we’re closer to the beginning than we are to the end [of the pandemic], and that’s not because the variant that we’re looking at right now is going to last that long,” Larry Brilliant, MD, an epidemiologist who was part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) team that helped eradicate smallpox and founder of a pandemic consultancy, told CNBC during an August 6 interview. “Unless we vaccinate everyone in 200 plus countries, there will still be new variants,” he said, while adding that he believes COVID will evolve into a “forever virus” similar to the flu.
Other experts, such as Scott Gottlieb, MD, former Food & Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, pointed out that certain behaviors haven’t been stepped up enough to stop the spread of the Delta variant, especially as schools are about to reopen in many parts of the U.S. He advocated the use of higher quality masks such as KN95s instead of largely ineffective cloth masks, citing that mostly asymptomatic vaccinated people may be spreading the virus to others for a brief period of time.
“We are taking sort of an Alpha mindset into a Delta world, and it’s not going to work,” Gottlieb said during an Aug. 9 appearance on CNBC, referencing the previously dominant strain in the U.S. “We’re going to see that this delta variant is more difficult to control.”
But which places are seeing the worst spikes? Read on to discover which states are seeing surges in COVID cases of more than 60 percent over the past week as of August 9, according to data from The Washington Post.
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- New cases in the last seven days: 13 cases per 100,000 people
- Percent increase in the last seven days: 60 percent


- New cases in the last seven days: 12 cases per 100,000 people
- Percent increase in the last seven days: 62 percent
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- New cases in the last seven days: 22 cases per 100,000 people
- Percent increase in the last seven days: 64 percent


- New cases in the last seven days: 19 cases per 100,000 people
- Percent increase in the last seven days: 68 percent
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- New cases in the last seven days: 52 cases per 100,000 people
- Percent increase in the last seven days: 79 percent


- New cases in the last seven days: 13 cases per 100,000 people
- Percent increase in the last seven days: 87 percent
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- New cases in the last seven days: 15 cases per 100,000 people
- Percent increase in the last seven days: 123 percent
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- New cases in the last seven days: 37 cases per 100,000 people
- Percent increase in the last seven days: 196 percent
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