US reaches 40 million recorded Covid-19 cases -- with 4 million counted in the last 4 weeks

The U.S.'s Covid-19 case rates have generally soared since the start of the summer as the highly contagious Delta variant spread -- and the current average is more than three times higher than it was a year ago. The United States' seven-day average of new cases Monday (137,270 daily) dwarfs the average seen on Labor Day of last year (39,355 daily), according to Johns Hopkins University data. Hospitalizations and daily Covid-19 deaths also have risen lately, and where these counts go from here is 'up to us,' Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN