COVID cases continue to rise at alarming rates. According to USA Today, “The nation is averaging about 25,300 new cases per day, more than double the 11,300 per day the week of June 22. The total rose in 48 states – all but Iowa and South Dakota.”
Low vaccination rates, the relaxation of mask rules and other precautions, and the swift spread of the more-contagious delta variant are blamed. Sarah McCool, a professor of public health at Georgia State University, said the combination amounts to a “recipe for a potential tinderbox.”
One of the other big problems is people who are ignoring the facts or consuming news that twists reality. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory to warn the American public about this threat of misinformation.
Health misinformation is information that is false, inaccurate, or misleading according to the best available science at the time. During this pandemic, it's divided our friends, families, and communities. It’s led to threats against our health workers. And it’s cost us lives.
— Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) July 15, 2021
Arkansas is getting hit especially hard now. NBC News reports “Arkansas is proving to be one of the country’s Covid-19 hotspots as the delta variant now accounts for more than half of new cases in the U.S.”
Coronavirus caseload and hospitalization rates in the Ozarks region have reached levels not seen since the winter, officials warn.
In several counties across Missouri and Arkansas, caseloads have now reached — or surpassed — their winter peaks.https://t.co/rGT6wPnE67
— NPR (@NPR) July 14, 2021
Watch more above from NBC News.
