Swiftly rising coronavirus cases across the United States and abroad have fuelled fears of a pandemic resurgence as the highly contagious Delta variant appeared to be taking hold.
Many of the new outbreaks were in parts of the country where COVID-19 vaccinations have lagged, prompting political leaders to ramp up pressure on reluctant Americans to get the inoculations.
President Joe Biden, citing higher rates of COVID-19 in states with low vaccination rates, said during a speech that the nation’s economic recovery hinged on getting better at controlling the pandemic.
“So please, please get vaccinated,” Biden pleaded on Monday. “Get vaccinated now.”
His comments came as a federal judge ruled that Indiana University could require students to be vaccinated, rejecting claims in a lawsuit that it violated their constitutional rights. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they would appeal.
Also on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said fully vaccinated Americans could cross the border for the first time in 16 months from August 9, easing a travel ban that many business owners complained was crippling them.
Vaccines and especially mandatory shots are deeply controversial among conservatives.
The average number of daily new COVID-19 cases in the United States has tripled in the past 30 days, according to a Reuters analysis, climbing to 32,136 on Sunday.
Deaths rose 25 per cent last week to an average of 250 a day.
Millions of Americans were thrown out of work and many small businesses were forced out of business due to nationwide clampdowns during 2020.
Already Los Angeles County has ordered residents to wear masks indoors again following a surge in cases across southern California.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city had no plans to reimpose mask mandates despite a rise in cases. The mayor said he would redouble vaccination efforts.
Arkansas has been especially hard hit by the resurgent virus. All but two of the state’s 75 counties have substantial or high levels of transmission, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Delta variant was responsible for 90 per cent of current new cases in Utah’s Salt Lake County, state epidemiology manager Ilene Risk said.
To combat the rising infections, the county has enlisted faith leaders and doctors to persuade the roughly 40 per cent of eligible people who are not fully vaccinated to accept the shots, she said.
AAP
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