

The Covid vaccines currently being used are proving to be successful in preventing severe disease, hospitalization and death from the delta variant, according to Dr.

Thomas Dobbs said during a news briefing Friday. "We don't want anybody to die needlessly," Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Officials there asked people over 65 and immunocompromised residents to avoid any indoor mass gatherings for the next two weeks amid "significant transmission" of the delta variant over the coming weeks. Mississippi has administered at least one shot to just 37% of its population, ranking last in the country. "If you think about what it means to have a virus takeover that rapidly, it means that it is the most fit virus that it is spreading more efficiently, that it is spreading in pockets that are unvaccinated and it's causing a lot of disease, and a lot of stress in it," he added. The rise of the delta variant has prompted officials in some states like Mississippi to issue new calls for masking and social distancing, especially among older and more vulnerable residents. The seven-day average of newly confirmed Covid cases has climbed to about 23,300 a day, almost double the average from a week ago, according to Johns Hopkins data.

Indeed, nationwide cases are once again on the rise as the highly transmissible delta variant takes hold as the dominant strain in the U.S. Virtually all Covid hospitalizations and deaths, 99.5%, are occurring among unvaccinated people, U.S. "There will continue to be an increase in cases among unvaccinated Americans and in communities with low vaccination rates, particularly given the spread of the more transmissible delta variant," White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said at news briefing last week. Those three states are seeing some of the highest levels of cases per capita in the country over the past seven days amid a surge in spread of the delta variant in southwest Missouri. More than half of the counties in Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana have low vaccination rates and elevated levels of Covid cases, according to CNBC's analysis. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit
