The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 620,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.3 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 59.1% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Aug 09, 2021, 7:55 AM EDT
5-point strategy to get kids back to school safely
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told "Good Morning America" Monday that he has a five-point strategy to get kids back to school safely:
Vaccinated everyone who is able to get vaccinated
Upgrade ventilation in schools
Test in schools
Wear masks
Avoid super-crowded events like assemblies
A student colors in a book at Tussahaw Elementary school on Aug. 4, 2021, in McDonough, Ga. Schools have begun reopening in the U.S. with most states leaving it up to local schools to decide whether to require masks.
Brynn Anderson/AP
When asked if the latest surge has peaked, Jha said, "We're hopeful, but we don’t know."
"The numbers are still increasing across much of the country. There are a few states that look like they may be turning" like Louisiana, he said.
-ABC News' Alexandra Faul
Aug 09, 2021, 7:31 AM EDT
'This is not your grandfather's COVID,' pediatrician warns
Children with COVID-19 used to make up 1% of patients hospitalized at Children's Hospital New Orleans. Now they account for about 20%, Dr. Mark Kline, physician-in-chief at Children's Hospital New Orleans, told "Good Morning America" Monday.
He said about half of the children hospitalized are under 2 years old. Most of the others are between 5 and 10 years old, so too young to be vaccinated.
"This is not your grandfather's COVID," Kline said. "This delta variant is an entirely new and unexpected challenge."
An ambulance enters the emergency room wing at Tampa General Hospital amid a COVID-19 outbreak in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 3, 2021.
Octavio Jones/Reuters
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor, warned on MSNBC that with "schools act[ing] as an accelerant, you should assume we're going to see pediatric intensive care units all across the South completely overwhelmed and even a possibility of small tent cities of sick adolescents and kids."
Hotez said parents need to know that "delta is something different" and "picking off young people like we've never seen."
A sign reading 'Wear a Mask' stands near the front entrance of St. Petersburg General Hospital amid a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in St. Petersburg, Fla., Aug. 3, 2021.
Octavio Jones/Reuters
"If your adolescent kid is unvaccinated, you should assume there's a high likelihood that that child is going to get COVID," he said, adding, "And we haven't even gotten to the 'long COVID' discussion around young people and what that means for their long-term cognitive health."
