Protests against mandated COVID-19 vaccines pop up across US

Kaiser Permanente, the country's largest nonprofit health care organization, announced Monday that it will require all its employees and physicians to be vaccinated.

The organization, which has facilities in eight states and the District of Columbia, said the move was done to protect its workforce and patients from the rising delta variant.

As of July 31, 77.8% of 216,000 Kaiser Permanente employees and more than 95% of 23,000 Permanente Medical Group physicians have been fully vaccinated, the company said.

Kaiser Permanente set a target of Sept. 30 for all of its employees to be vaccinated. It will allow exceptions for medical and religious reasons.

Two of the nation's largest hardware chains announced new rules when it comes to masking among their employees and customers.

Both Home Depot and Lowes said it will require all of their associates, contractors and vendors to wear a mask while inside one of their stores, warehouses or other facilities, effective Monday. The rule also applies if the employees are working in a customer's home or business.

When it comes to customers, each chain had its own rules.

Home Depot said it will "ask customers to wear masks while in our stores and continue to offer masks to those who don’t have one." Lowes said its stores "will have signs encouraging customers to wear masks, and free masks will continue to be available for customers who request them."

-ABC News' Brian Hartman

Northwell Health, the latest health provider in New York state, announced it will require all employees to get the coronavirus vaccine, or face regular weekly testing, a spokesperson told ABC News.

The policy goes into effect on Aug. 16.

Northwell, which operates 23 hospitals and more than 830 outpatient facilities in New York and has over 76,000 employees, was already requiring new hires to be vaccinated.

As of Monday, 77% of the health provider's entire staff were vaccinated, the company said in a statement.

Those who fail to get tested "in a timely manner" will face disciplinary action, including termination, according to the spokesperson. 

"We believe it is our obligation to set an example for the community by getting our team members vaccinated," Northwell said in a statement.

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients touted the recent increase in vaccine rates across the country during a briefing Monday.

He said last week the U.S. reached its highest day seven-day average of vaccinations since July 4th, and 3 million Americans got their first shot in the past seven days.

Zients noted that the most significant increases were in the states with the highest COVID-19 rates, where vaccination rates have doubled and, in some cases, tripled.

"Louisiana has seen a 302% increase in the average number of newly vaccinated per day, Mississippi, 250%, Alabama 215% and Arkansas 206%," Zients said.

He reiterated that the jump in vaccines will help to bring cases down throughout the country.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett