'Steady increase' in vaccines in past month, White House says

Austin, Texas, has just nine ICU beds available for its population of 2.3 million, as of Saturday, according to the state’s coronavirus tracker. 

The Austin area is currently treating 400 COVID-19 patients in hospitals. The 7-day moving average for hospitalizations in a week has increased over 47% from 34 to 50 new admissions on July 30, according to an Austin Public Health news release.

“We are running out of time and our community must act now,” Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes said on the crisis. “Our ICU capacity is reaching a critical point where the level of risk to the entire community has significantly increased, and not just to those who are needing treatment for COVID. If we fail to come together as a community now, we jeopardize the lives of loved ones who might need critical care.”

New Orleans’ EMS department has become so hard hit by the pandemic and the rampant delta variant, it does not have the capacity to respond to 911 calls, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Friday. 

“One of our primary and premiere public safety agencies, EMS, was hit very hard with COVID, we’re experiencing that this week, today, right now,” Cantrell said. 

The crisis prompted Cantrell to issue an emergency contract to increase the city’s capacity on the ground, “because we currently do not have the capacity to respond to 911 calls that come from our community right now,” she said. 

On Friday Cantrell enacted an indoor mask mandate, which requires all people regardless of vaccination status to wear a mask indoors. The mayor also announced that all city employees will be required to be vaccinated, hoping the decision will prompt private businesses to issue similar orders for their workers.

“Our children are dying,” she said. “From 2 weeks old to 2 years old to 4 years old, you cannot make it up.”

She cited that the city has recorded over 1,000 new cases just over this past week. 

At the press briefing when Cantrell was asked whether she worries about losing employees who don't want to get a shot, she said, “Well I'm worried about city employees as it relates to death due to this virus."

-ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos and Will McDuffie.

The White House offered a glimmer of hope in the COVID-19 crisis Saturday as the nation continues to grapple with the delta variant. 

For the first time “in a long stretch” the U.S. recorded four days in a row where over 700,000 COVID-19 vaccines were given out, White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain tweeted Saturday. 

Overall, about 3 million people got their first vaccine shot over the past seven days, Klain said. 

-ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky caused a stir on Fox News on Friday when asked, “Are you for mandating a vaccine on a federal level?” to which she replied, “That’s something that I think the administration is looking into.”

Walensky later clarified her comments on Twitter saying: “There will be no nationwide mandate. I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.”

-ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway