Protests against mandated COVID-19 vaccines pop up across US

The U.S. has recorded its highest single-day COVID-19 case total in exactly six months with more than 120,000 new cases reported, according to newly updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

The country is now averaging more than 96,000 new cases a day.

Additionally, every single state in the country is reporting "high" (a seven-day new case rate ≥100) or "substantial" (a seven-day new case rate between 50-99.99) community transmission.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Cases are skyrocketing in Louisiana, officials said Friday, with case positivity rates returning to the highs seen last spring.

Over the past two weeks, about 1% of the entire state population has become infected with COVID-19, officials said at a briefing.

The test positivity rate is now 15.4%, the highest number since April 22, 2020.

"We are at the leading edge of the surge case growth per capita and Louisiana continues to be the highest in the country," Gov. John Bel Edwards said.

Only about 37.5% of the state's population is fully vaccinated, well below the national rate of 50%.

"It is because of these grim statistics, coupled with a shortage of nurses and hospital staff that we asked the federal government to send medical strike teams our way," Edwards reported.

-ABC News' Jamie Aranoff and Jianna Cousin

New polling finds that more Americans are worried about the delta variant, which now makes up nearly all new cases in the United States.

According to an Axios/Ipsos poll, 78% of adult respondents reported being "concerned" about delta's spread, with 50% reporting that they were "extremely concerned" or "very concerned" about the new variant, representing a six point rise since late June.

A separate Kaiser Family Foundation poll, conducted in July, found that 55% of respondents believed that new variants would cause the pandemic to worsen in their area. Thirty-six percent believed they would personally get sick from a new variant.

-ABC News' Gary Langer

Public school students in New Jersey will be required to wear masks when school starts up again, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy announced Friday.

The rules, which will apply to K-12 students, are a departure for Murphy, who previously said school mask mandates would be left up to each district.

"I want as much as anybody else in our state to see our kids' smiles as they start their school years. But I do not want to see any of them getting sick needlessly or schools have to shut down again and go remote because of an outbreak," Murphy told reporters.

The governor stressed that the mask mandate is not permanent.

"As soon as conditions allow -- and please God sooner than later -- we will lift this requirement again," he said.

-ABC News' Will McDuffie