Protests against mandated COVID-19 vaccines pop up across US
Pushback is happening over vaccine requirements and mask mandates.
The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 615,000 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 58.4% 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 last week, 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.
Latest headlines:
US 'may sooner or later get another variant' if spread not controlled: Fauci
Without control over the community spread of the delta variant, the virus has "ample opportunity to mutate," so "you may sooner or later get another variant," Dr. Anthony Fauci told "Good Morning America."
Fauci warned that it's possible a new "variant might be in some respects worse than the already very difficult variant we're dealing with now, which is a major reason why you want to completely suppress the circulation of the virus in the community."
There are still about 93 million eligible Americans who have not gotten vaccinated.
Fauci added, "People who say, 'I don't want to get vaccinated because it's me and I'll worry about me, I'm not having any impact on anybody else,' that's just not the case."
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Tokyo sees 5,042 positive cases -- a new record
There are 5,042 new positive COVID-19 cases in Tokyo as of Thursday, according to the city's coronavirus information website.
Of those cases, 135 are severe and one has resulted in death.
It's a new record for Tokyo and a 178% increase since last Thursday, as the highly contagious delta variant spreads rapidly across the globe.
Over 15,000 new COVID cases in Texas
Texas reported 15,558 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the highest one-day count since Feb. 3, according to state health records.
The state has seen a major jump in cases in the last month, brought on by the delta variant, according to officials.
The seven-day average of new daily cases has increased from about 1,500 on July 2 to nearly 10,000 on Aug. 3, according to state health data.
As of Wednesday, 62.58% of Texas residents 12 and older have received at least one shot, according to the state health department.
Hundreds of students, school staff quarantined in Arkansas district
Hundreds of student and staff members from the Marion School District in Arkansas are now quarantined in only the second week of the school year, officials announced.
The state has a ban on school districts imposing a mask mandate.
On Tuesday, the district said 253 students would begin their two-week quarantine due to 15 cases that were reported in the schools. This came after 168 students were already quarantined last week.
"If all students and teachers had been wearing a mask appropriately- then today's 15 positive cases would be isolated- but there would be no resulting quarantines for anyone else," the district said in a statement.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters Tuesday he regretted signing the bill that banned masks in schools and urged the state legislature to amend the law to give schools the option.
Louisiana marks highest test positivity rate since April 2020
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