Unvaccinated people 11 times more likely to die in COVID-19 delta surge

While infection rates are plummeting in the South, causing national metrics to fall, some states in colder climates are beginning to see an uptick in cases, despite some impressive vaccination rates.

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNN on Monday," "You're starting to see an uptick in cases in the colder parts of the country and as people are driven indoors without masks on."

These states have seen case rates jump by 20% or more in the last month, according to federal data: Colorado (22%), Idaho (21.6%), New Hampshire (54%), Vermont (42.6%), Montana (82.6%), Michigan (90.9%) and Minnesota (75.9%).

Alaska currently has the country's highest infection rate, followed by Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho, according to federal data. California currently has the nation's lowest infection rate.

Death rates remain high with about 1,400 deaths reported each day, according to federal data. But daily COVID-19 related hospital admissions down nationally by 13.4% in the last week. 

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving, who has refused to get vaccinated, won't "play or practice with the team until he is eligible to be a full participant," General Manager Sean Marks said in a statement Tuesday.

Barclays Center, home to the Nets, requires proof of vaccination for entry.

"We respect his individual right to choose," Marks said, but "the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member of the team, and we will not permit any member of our team to participate with part-time availability."

"It is imperative that we continue to build chemistry as a team and remain true to our long-established values of togetherness and sacrifice," Marks said.

A federal judge in Utica, New York, sided Tuesday with 17 health care workers who object to the state vaccine mandate for health workers on religious grounds, granting their request for an injunction.

Unlike other judges who have heard similar cases about vaccine mandates, Judge David Hurd concluded “the public interest lies with enforcing the guarantees enshrined in the Constitution and federal anti-discrimination law” and not the wider public health.

The plaintiffs said they hold the sincere religious belief that they “cannot consent to be inoculated ... with vaccines that were tested, developed or produced with fetal cell[ ] line[s] derived from procured abortions.” According to plaintiffs, the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available violate these sincere religious beliefs “because they all employ fetal cell lines derived from procured abortion in testing, development or production.”

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky

Central Maine Medical Center updated its website Monday to say it would be suspending pediatric, heart attack and trauma admissions. Patients who arrive at the Lewiston medical center will be evaluated, stabilized and transferred to another hospital if needed, the statement said.

While the announcement didn't cite a reason for the suspended admissions, ABC affiliate WMTW said Central Maine Healthcare is enduring a staffing shortage.

Maine and New Hampshire have been struggling with COVID-19 numbers recently even though their populations are highly vaccinated, according to federal data.

Hospital admissions are no longer trending down in HHS Region 1, which includes Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island, federal data show.

-ABC News' Alexandra Faul