- Researchers say COVID-19 cases are surging in places like Arkansas and Los Angeles County due to low vaccination rates.
- Most of the increase in cases is associated with the delta variant.
- Experts say more people need to be vaccinated, and mask mandates need to be reinstated to reduce cases again.
A “runaway train” and a “raging forest fire that will continue to grow in size and strength.”
That’s how public health researchers are describing the current COVID-19 surge in Arkansas.
The latest forecast from officials at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health projects an average of 1,039 new cases per day in the state over the next week.
They also predict an average of 169 new cases per day in children under the age of 17.
The researchers warn that those numbers may already be out of date because the coronavirus is moving so rapidly in this region of the country.
Why? The researchers point to Arkansas’ vaccination rate of 35 percent, one of the lowest in the country.
Arkansas has one of the highest rates of new COVID-19 cases per capita, but it has plenty of company amid this latest nationwide surge.
In overall numbers, the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that Florida had the most new cases the past week. Florida also had the most COVID-19 deaths the past week.
“It’s more heartbreaking than surprising,” Dr. Rajiv Bahl, an emergency medicine physician in central Florida, told Healthline. “If we could get more people vaccinated, we could start to see the numbers plateau, even decrease.”
Source: healthline