Only eight intensive care unit beds were available on Aug. 9 in Arkansas, the state’s governor said, as the rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus pushed cases and hospitalizations in the United States to a six-month high.
The number of new Covid-19 cases climbed to a six-month high in the United States, with more than 100,000 infections reported on Aug. 5 as the Delta variant ravages Florida and other states with lower vaccination rates.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. said on Aug. 4 the drugstore chain had administered more than 29 million Covid-19 vaccines at its stores so far, led by a surge in parts of the United States that had lagged in vaccinations.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Aug. 3 urged Republican leaders in Florida and Texas – home to roughly a third of all new U.S. Covid-19 cases – to follow public health guidelines on the pandemic or “get out of the way” as the country struggles to contain the rapid spread of the disease’s Delta variant.
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 17 rejected a Republican bid that had been backed by former President Donald Trump’s administration to invalidate Obamacare, preserving the landmark healthcare law for the third time since the ACA’s 2010 enactment.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on May 18 ordered all government entities in the state, including school districts, to lift mask mandates by week’s end, though existing guidelines for face-coverings in schools may remain in effect through June 4.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating the death of an Oregon woman and the hospitalization of another in Texas after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, state health officials said.
The Biden administration on April 16 said it will invest $1.7 billion to help states and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fight Covid-19 variants that are rapidly spreading across the United States.
Several U.S. states on March 25 announced broad expansions of their Covid-19 vaccine rollouts, with California opening immunizations to all adults aged 50 and older starting April 1 and Florida making anyone 40 and up eligible from March 22.
The United States crossed 30 million coronavirus cases on March 24, according to a Reuters tally, as states accelerate the vaccination process by lowering age limits.