Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will request approval that the COVID-19 vaccine become mandatory for all U.S. military service members by mid-September, a U.S. official confirmed.

-ABC News' Luiz Martinez

Starting Monday, France's residents and visitors must show a "Pass Sanitaire" -- or COVID health pass -- that gives the individual's vaccination status or negative test result. The pass is needed for long-distance travel by plane or train and to get into businesses including restaurants, malls and retirement homes.

The passes can be digital or in paper form. It's not required for kids under 12, but after Aug. 30, it will be required for those children ages 12 to 17.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

Across the U.S., 72.48% of counties are reporting high community transmission and 16.55% are reporting substantial community transmission, according to federal data. Less than 5% of counties are reporting low transmission.

Louisiana has the nation's highest case rate, followed by Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Missouri, Georgia and Tennessee, according to federal data.

Nationally, the average number of new COVID-19 hospital admissions has surged to nearly 8,500 per day, up 306% in the last month, according to federal data.

In Mississippi, hospital admissions are up 375% in the last month, with only 35% of the state's total population fully vaccinated, according to federal data.

Hospital admissions in Arkansas jumped 158% in the last month.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

In hard-hit Louisiana, where the positivity rate is about 15%, Gov. John Bel Edwards told "GMA 3"there's no indication the state has reached the peak of this surge.

Louisiana has more than 2,700 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, the governor said, noting that during the previous surge's peak, hospitalizations only reached 2,100.

"We are having the worst situation in terms of the pandemic across the board here in Louisiana. And unfortunately, we don't see anything that indicates that we have peaked," he said. "Cases continue to go up, hospitalizations, and 20% of new infections over the past couple of weeks have been in children under 18."

The governor has reinstated a mask mandate for August as cases skyrocket.

Edwards noted that "the two sectors of the economy hit hardest by COVID related to oil and gas because the demand fell so much for those products, and then to tourism because people stopped traveling."

"This is a very serious blow. But we believe and hope that this is going to be a relatively temporary change, not unlike the one that we had last March, and that sometime over the next several weeks, we will get past this surge and then continue to get people vaccinated and that the confidence will increase," he said.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told Florida superintendents in a new letter that he’ll stand with any school that defies Gov. Ron DeSantis by implementing a mask mandate.

He also spelled out how schools can use federal COVID-19 relief dollars, already appropriated by Congress, "to support any activity necessary to maintain operations," including reimbursing pay of education officials withheld by the governor. DeSantis later admitted he couldn't slash superintendents' pay since it is a local matter, but implausibly called on superintendents to slash their own pay if they defied his ban on mask mandates.

"Several school districts in Florida have already moved to adopt universal masking policies despite the State’s prohibition, and I want you to know that the U.S. Department of Education stands with you," he wrote. "Your decisions are vital to safely reopen schools and maintain safe in-person instruction, and they are undoubtedly in the best interest of your students."

He later added, "In these unprecedented and difficult times, the leadership and courage that you are showing will make a difference in the lives of the students whom you serve."

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty and Sophie Tatum