Covid-19 cases rise in US hotspots

Daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have doubled in the last three weeks from an average of 11,400 on June 23 to an average of 23,600 new cases per day All but two states - Maine and South Dakota - reported that case numbers have increased the past two weeks. Coronavirus daily deaths have only slightly risen from in the last two weeks from 257 per day to 265 per day, with about 99.5% of the 3,165 deaths in July occurring among unvaccinated people. Health experts blame the rise in cases on the spread of the Indian 'Delta' variant, lagging vaccination rates in several counties and Fourth of July gatherings. In Missouri, which has the highest prevalence of the Delta variant, infections have risen 38% from an average of 938 cases per day two weeks ago to 1,298 per day as of Tuesday. Louisiana, which has the second lowest vaccination rate only to Mississippi, has seen cases rise 92% in two weeks from an average of 434 per day to 836 per day