These five numbers show how bad the US Covid-19 surge is.But experts say we can turn things around

But you don’t have to get there. Health officials say the key to getting things around quickly is to use more shots as a weapon.

“If we work together, unite as a country, immunize all interested and unvaccinated people, and wear masks to prevent illness, we can really control this in a few weeks. “Masu,” said Dr. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rochelle Walensky told CNN on Thursday.

This is where we are now.

The average number of cases has increased nine-fold since early July

As of Friday, the 7-day average of daily Covid-19 cases in the United States exceeded 107,100, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. This is the highest average in almost 6 months.

The previous average daily number of cases exceeded 100,000 on February 11. The average daily number of cases has increased nine-fold since early July.

Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Thursday. “If it really accelerated from May to June and the country was fully vaccinated, we didn’t have to worry too much.”

The surge was particularly sharp across the South, including Florida and Louisiana, and Warensky said Thursday that there was an “exponential rise” when it did not appear to have peaked yet.

Hospitalization is the best since February

Hospitalizations by Covid-19 in the United States have not been so high since February.

Judge Lina Hidalgo of Harris County, Texas, said at a press conference Thursday, “Today we are on the edge of a cliff, thinking we could head for a public health catastrophe again. You can do it. ” At the meeting, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that Houston’s Texas Medical Center campus hospitalized more than 300 Covid-19 patients a day.

Last week, Arkansas reported record lows in 25 ICU beds available throughout the state. In Mississippi, health officials said only six ICU beds were available on Wednesday.

Covid-19 children and teens surge 84% in a week

“I don’t think this virus is necessarily targeting children and adolescents. I wonder what’s going on. Now it’s a wildfire in the south, and everything, including adolescents, is I think it’s been wiped out inside, including young children. “

“The way to stop it is to vaccinate as many people as possible,” he added. “The more vaccinated you are, the more you can actually delay the infection.”

Delta variants account for 93% of US Covid-19 cases

These figures show a rapid increase in the prevalence of variants across the United States. In late May, the CDC estimated that Delta would account for about 3% of new Covid-19 cases.

“This is serious,” Warrensky told CNN earlier. “This is one of the most infectious viruses we know.”

Officials across the country said the Delta Variant is helping to increase their proceedings.

Mississippi Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Thursday that the state saw a “tremendous increase” in daily incidents “totally due to the delta variants that are hitting Mississippi like a tsunami.” According to Dobbs, about 97% of new cases come from unvaccinated people.

“We have seen unvaccinated populations causing the current surge. About 89% of hospitalizations and 85% of deaths are unvaccinated.”

Most Americans live in areas with substantial or high Covid-19 infection

Experts say that knowing the amount of virus circulating in the community helps to understand the types of risks that residents are taking when choosing whether to mask.

Good news

And some of the most rapid increases in vaccination are seen in some southern states where vaccine progress is inadequate and vaccine hesitation is intense. As of the end of July, the average new dose in Alabama was more than double that of three weeks ago.

In Louisiana, the daily vaccination rate increased by 111% over the same time frame, while in Missouri, the average number of vaccinations per day increased by 87%.

Vaccination is the “ultimate answer” to reversing this surge, emergency physician Dr. Lina Wen told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday.

“We know that the only and best way to stop the virus and get out of the pandemic is to increase vaccination rates,” Wen said. “A sufficiently high level of immunity in the United States can prevent the virus from causing such havoc.”