National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said Sunday he believes vaccine requirements could make a difference in slowing the rapid spread of COVID-19 and acknowledged how politics has polarized public opinion on pandemic mitigation strategies.

"Why is it that a mandate about a vaccine or wearing a mask suddenly becomes a statement of your political party? We never should have let that happen." Collins told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.

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As the COVID-19 delta variant causes a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the U.S., protests against mandatory COVID vaccines have cropped up around the country.

Dozens of people gathered outside St. John's Hospital in Maplewood, Minnesota on Saturday to protest vaccination mandates from health care systems including M Health Fairview, Allina Health, HealthPartners and Children's Minnesota,
ABC affiliate KSTP reported.

The only exemptions are for strong religious beliefs or medical conditions. "We stand up for our patients all the time and no one's standing up for us," Allison Todd, a nurse at Allina Health's Cambridge clinic told the station.

Hundreds protested outside of ChristianaCare in Newark, Delaware, Saturday to push back against the hospital's decision to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees, according to WPVI.

And more than 100 gathered in Vancouver, Washington, to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for hospital workers, ABC's Portland affiliate, KATU reported.

This weekend, some of Florida's largest school districts have moved to require masks for students, the latest in a weeklong saga that began when Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order aimed at preventing districts from mandating face coverings for kids.

However, the mandates -- issued by districts including Hillsborough (Tampa), Orange (Orlando), and Palm Beach -- come with a catch: parents are allowed to opt their children out of them, without providing a reason.

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The U.S. just recorded a fourth consecutive day with more than 100,000 new daily COVID-19 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The country is averaging more than 99,000 daily cases over the last week, CDC data shows, as the delta variant continues to spread.

In Louisiana, which has the nation's highest case rate per 100,000 residents, COVID-19 hospitalizations are reaching peak levels, with more than 1,700 patients now receiving care.

"We're seeing people that are way too young to be so sick," David Wrightson, a respiratory therapist and ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) specialist for the Willis-Knighton Health System in Shreveport, Louisiana, told ABC News. "We see families destroyed. We see children without one or more parent because of this virus. We see a new mom who will never go home to see her newborn, will never see her child grow up."

He went on, "When you see someone that's 30 years old with no medical problems at all, nobody knew anything was wrong, and we have this person literally on death's doorstep, doing everything in our power to turn them around and return them to their family. The vaccine is something worth getting."

More people need to see and understand the reality of this disease, he said.

"I wish I could show them a few steps in our day to see what we see and to see what we have to do, and to go home at night and, and have nightmares about those things, and sometimes cry yourself to sleep," he said.

-ABC News’ Erica Baumgart and Arielle Mitropoulos