Below are six national COVID-19 trends as the pandemic picks up:
1. The current seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 cases is 61,976, the CDC reported July 28. This is a 64.1 percent increase from the week before and a 439.7 percent jump from the lowest average in June 2021.
2. The U.S. now has a high level of community transmission because of rapidly rising COVID-19 cases in some regions, according to the CDC. No states are seeing low levels of transmission.
3. COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are also rising but at far lower rates than new infections, The New York Times reported July 24.
4. About 97 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients aren't vaccinated, according to the Times.
5. The national surge is driven largely by severe outbreaks in a handful of states, according to the Times. The more infectious delta variant has caused significant case spikes in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida.
6. About 49 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, with rates varying greatly from state to state. In Vermont, two-thirds of residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while in Alabama and Mississippi, just more than a third of residents are fully inoculated, the Times reported.