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(CNN) -
Millions of Americans are putting their health, liberty and finances at risk by not getting vaccinated and by exposing themselves to the risk of the most infectious strain of coronavirus yet, current and former federal health officials say.
"Most people either get vaccinated or have been previously infected or will contract this delta variant," Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
"And for most people who get this delta variant, it will be the most serious virus they ever contract in terms of the risk of getting them to the hospital," said Gottlieb, who was a commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration. States (FDA) during the Trump administration.
For those who are not fully vaccinated, "the quality of the masks will make a difference with a variant that spreads more aggressively, like delta does, where people are more contagious and exude more virus," he said.
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In research published online, scientists examining 62 cases of the delta variant found viral loads roughly 1,260 times higher than those found in 63 cases of the epidemic wave early in 2020.
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The delta variant is also sending younger and previously healthy people - the vast majority of whom have not been vaccinated - to hospitals, say doctors in several states suffering from waves of covid.
"This year's virus is not last year's virus," said Dr. Catherine O'Neal, an infectious disease specialist at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"It is attacking 40-year-olds. It is attacking our young parents and grandparents. And it is taking over our children," O'Neal said.
He said his covid-19 unit now has more 20-year-old patients who were previously healthy.
"You have to get vaccinated," O'Neal said.
"That's the only way to end this. Masks and mitigation, they're not going to stop it. It's going to be vaccination."
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Vaccines can save lives
Since February, 97% of COVID-19-related cases and deaths in Louisiana have occurred among people who were not fully vaccinated, Governor John Bel Edwards said Friday.
As with any vaccine, a small percentage of vaccinated people can get a breakthrough infection.
But it is literally impossible to get COVID-19 with any of the vaccines used in the United States because none of them have any coronavirus.
"Even if you have an infection while vaccinated, which, again, occurs in a very small minority of people, it is likely to be a mild or asymptomatic infection," Dr. Vivek Murthy, director of US Health Services, told CNN. .
But most Americans are not fully vaccinated.
As of Sunday, only 48.6% of Americans were fully vaccinated, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Many Americans have not been vaccinated due to misinformation, which "takes away our freedom and our power to make (informed) decisions for ourselves and our families," said the director of health services.
Now, delta-variant infections have spread to all 50 states.
In Los Angeles County, the rate of new COVID-19 cases has increased 300% since July 4, the county Health Department said.
Hospitalizations for covid-19 have more than doubled from the previous month.
The rise in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations prompted county officials to reinstate an indoor mask mandate.
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'He was in the best physical condition of his life', then he died of covid-19
Rachel Maginn Rosser recently lost her 63-year-old mother to covid-19.
Rosser, a nurse, said she believes her mother would still be alive if she had been vaccinated.
"He was in the best shape of his life. He worked out five times a week with a personal trainer," Rossner said Saturday.
"He loved to go out and have fun. He was a social butterfly. And he got sick, and it was a slow decline from there."
Kim Maginn had a sore throat and fever for about a week, said her daughter Rosser, who lives in Arkansas.
Maginn was "shocked" when she went to the doctor last month and found out it wasn't strep, but covid-19.
Arkansas has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, according to the CDC.
And with Covid-19 patients filling hospital beds, Rosser said he felt "helpless" because he was unable to visit his mother when she was in an intensive care unit.
"I had to stay out of her room and call her on her cell phone to talk to her," he said.
"She looked very small in bed. It was difficult for her to speak because it was difficult for her to breathe."
Rosser said her mother did not get vaccinated because she believed that since she had not been infected so far, she was not going to get sick.
He said he begged his mom to get vaccinated.
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"I tried several different tactics. I laid out all the facts. I tried to plead with her emotional side, 'What would we do without you? Could you imagine our life without you?'" Rosser said.
"A part of me wishes I had tried harder. But she was really stubborn. She was stubborn, but not stupid. I think I eventually could have convinced her, but she got sick and contracted covid. And so there was no more time to try to convince her."
Rosser said she hopes sharing her family's story will help encourage others who are hesitant to get vaccinated.
"This virus ... does not discriminate. It does not care if you are old or young, or healthy or not. Once you contract it, it can be devastating for your family," Rosser said.
He encouraged people to "keep talking to your loved ones and keep trying to convince them because I wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through this."
The coronavirus has spread among children in the camps
While the chances of children dying from COVID-19 are low, more children and adolescents are hospitalized with COVID-19 or suffer long-term complications.
There have been numerous cases of covid-19 outbreaks in summer camps.
In Utah, officials are investigating COVID-19 cases at more than a dozen children's summer camps, said Aislynn Tolman-Hill, a spokeswoman for the Utah County Health Department.
"We are listening and we know there are A LOT of cases where symptomatic campers are sent home but not tested," Tolman-Hill told CNN in an email.
"Obviously, this is a huge concern. If we are not aware of these situations, we cannot track and notify those exposed."
Local health records in Utah County showed that less than 30% of children ages 12 to 18 are fully vaccinated.
State law prohibits the Utah County Health Department from requiring camps to follow rules or procedures related to the coronavirus, Tolman-Hill said.
"All we can do is educate and promote," he said.
In North Carolina, three out-of-state campers at Camp Daniel Boone Scouting Camp in Haywood County tested positive for coronavirus, local health officials said.
The camp canceled its remaining sessions and notified health officials when these individuals tested positive on July 14, according to a statement from the Daniel Boone Council, Boy Scouts of America.
The camp also informed everyone who attended the camp during that time of their possible exposure.
The camp had been following its "Covid-19 Mitigation Plan," which was approved by county health officials, according to the statement.
Mitigation measures included a pre-event medical screening checklist, daily temperature checks, physical distancing, a requirement to wear face masks for indoor and group settings, and hand washing and sanitizing stations throughout the camp.
"These events reveal that Covid-19 is still prevalent in our community," said Sarah Henderson, Haywood County public health director.
"It has not gone away, and this is not over. We continue to see an increase in positive cases as people gather in large groups and remain unvaccinated."
- CNN's Ben Tinker, Andy Rose and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.
Delta variant
