The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 613,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 57.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission -- vaccinated or not -- wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Jul 31, 2021, 4:58 PM EDT
Florida sees largest single-day increase of COVID-19 cases ever
Florida reported its largest single-day increase of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic on Saturday.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21,683 people tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 24 hours.
Cases have risen sharply in the past month in Florida, fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant. On Friday, the state reported over 110,000 new COVID-19 in the past week -- the highest weekly increase since the start of the year.
Jul 31, 2021, 4:37 PM EDT
Austin, Texas, has just 9 ICU beds left
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.”
Jul 31, 2021, 2:16 PM EDT
New Orleans runs out of capacity to respond to 911 calls
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.
Quin Smith, of Philadelphia, looks up at a balcony as she walks down Bourbon Street wearing a face mask as Louisiana's Covid-19 cases rise amid the Delta variant, in New Orleans, July 23, 2021.
Kathleen Flynn/Reuters
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.
Jul 31, 2021, 1:08 PM EDT
White House says about 3 million received 1st COVID-19 shot in the past week
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.
