Nearly 600 patients wait for hospital beds in Houston as city sees surge in COVID cases
According to the CDC, 46% of Texans have been fully vaccinated.
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.
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10 kids among 78 new COVID-19 patients admitted to Florida hospital
Ten children were among the 78 new COVID-19 patients admitted to Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sunday, the hospital said.
The hospital has 584 COVID-19 patients as of Monday. Twenty-one of those patients are children, including six kids who are in intensive care, the hospital said.
-ABC News' Alexandra Faul
Canada opens back up to American tourists
Monday marks the first day Canada is reopening to American visitors since the COVID-19 shutdown.
Tourists must provide proof of vaccination and a negative test.
Fifteen million Americans visited Canada in 2019, according to the government agency Destination Canada. The number of travelers dropped to 1.9 million in 2020, with the Canadian economy losing $11 billion in the process, according to Destination Canada.
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:
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
'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."
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."
"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."
Requests for help grow in Louisiana
In Louisiana, there are "major concerns about potential massive influx of patients" and significant staffing shortages, according to a Department of Health and Human Services planning document.
American Medical Response, a private ambulance company, sent 50 paramedics and 25 trucks to the hard-hit state on Friday, the document said.
A 13-person team from the Public Health Service Commissioner Corps is headed to Hammond, Louisiana, on Monday and a 14-person team is headed to Children's Hospital New Orleans, the document said.
Louisiana has also requested support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for entry screenings at colleges and universities.
-ABC News' Brian Hartman