The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 643,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 61.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here's how the news was developing. All times Eastern.
Aug 30, 2021, 2:05 PM EDT
More than half of US nearing ICU capacity
As of Aug. 29, dozens of states were reporting limited beds in intensive care units, with 23 states reporting over 80% capacity and six states reporting over 90% capacity, CDC experts announced at an advisory panel Monday.
The panel also found that the risks of contracting COVID-19 are still much higher for the unvaccinated.
People between ages 18 and 49 are 24 times more likely to be hospitalized if unvaccinated, according to the CDC, 19 times higher for unvaccinated populations between 50 and 64 and 13 times for unvaccinated people 65 and older.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Aug 30, 2021, 11:44 AM EDT
Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization drops slightly, CDC says
The COVID-19 vaccines' ability to keep people out of the hospital appears to be dropping slightly, particularly for those 75 and older, although the vaccines still remain highly effective at preventing serious illness, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented Monday during an advisory panel.
A syringe is filled with a dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccination clinic during a back to school event at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA in Los Angeles, Aug. 7, 2021.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
The CDC has previously estimated that 97% of people in the hospital being treated for COVID-19 are unvaccinated, but that data was collected before the spread of delta, a hyper-transmissible variant that many doctors have warned appears to be making people sicker.
Health experts are also concerned that a person’s immunity could be waning over time, particularly among older people whose bodies are less likely than young people to develop a strong immune response to the vaccines.
The latest CDC analysis estimates that the ability of the COVID vaccines to keep a person out of the hospital is now between 75% to 95%.
For people older than 75 in particular, vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization experienced the steepest decline, from more than 90% to 80% between June and July.
However, the vaccines still remain highly effective at preventing serious illness, according to the briefing. "COVID-19 vaccines continue to maintain high protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death," the CDC notes.
