Hospitalizations for covid-19, a "self-inflicted wound" 0:44
(CNN) -
Less than half of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against covid-19, and with cases on the rise, experts urge a return to precautions reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic.
"What I would say bluntly is: If you're not vaccinated right now in America, you shouldn't go to a bar, you probably shouldn't eat at a restaurant. You run a great risk of infection," said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, analyst. CNN physician and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, to CNN's Fredricka Whitfield.
In 48 states, the rate of new COVID-19 cases in the last week increased by at least 10% compared to the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
In 34 of those states, the rate of new cases increased by more than 50%.
And hospitals are filling up with COVID-19 patients again, except now, the patients are younger than before, doctors in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Missouri said.
Despite many officials and experts warning that the best protection against the virus comes from vaccines, only 49.1% of the US population is vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Diseases (CDC).
If a large swath of people remains resistant to vaccination, Reiner said, the United States has two options to control the spread: close businesses, which few people want to do, or go back to wearing masks.
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"The only way to get the unvaccinated to wear a mask is to make everyone wear a mask," Reiner said.
While mask use, such as vaccination, could come from the mandate of state leaders, Dr. William Schaffner, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said he anticipates more success if the drive to return to the precautions come from trusted local officials and community leaders.
And for those who say vaccination is a personal choice, Schaffner said, they are half right.
"This is a bit like driving on a red light. Yes, that's your decision, it puts you in danger, but it also puts others in danger," Schaffner said.
Delta variant increases calls for precautions
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Part of the urgency to control the spread and implement precautions is due to the prevalence of the delta variant, which is believed to be more transmissible than other strains of the virus.
"At the beginning of the pandemic, the CDC said a close contact was someone with whom you are indoors without a mask for 15 minutes or more," said Dr. Celine Gounder, who served on the transition advisory board on covid- 19 by President Joe Biden, in an interview with STAT published Friday.
"The equivalent of that with the delta variant is not 15 minutes, it is one second."
That means people may need to do more than one thing to protect themselves from the most communicable variant, said Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
In addition to vaccination, "some of the other layers that we should consider would be wearing masks indoors when outside the home bubble, optimizing ventilation in the home - just opening the window works great," he said.
People should think in terms of how much virus is in the air, as well as how long they might be in contact with that virus-laden air.
"So if you are indoors, there is not much dilution of the air unless you open the windows and do that kind of thing. When you are outdoors, it is diluted almost infinitely. So outdoors, your risk is really low, "Gounder said.
Are the right decisions being made to control the delta variant in the US?
As the delta variant spreads, infection and hospitalization rates increase.
In California, San Diego County and Los Angeles County reported their highest number of cases since February, and hospitalizations in Los Angeles County have more than doubled in two weeks.
On Sunday, Los Angeles County officials said hospitalizations topped 700 for the first time since March.
In Florida, state health data shows that new case positivity nearly doubled in two weeks, from 7.8% the week of July 2 to 15.1%.
A total of 870 hospitalized patients were reported Sunday in Alabama, according to the state's covid-19 public health control panel.
Hospitalizations there have risen steadily since the beginning of July - only 213 hospitalized patients were reported on July 4.
And Louisiana now has the highest per capita increase in cases in the United States, state officials said Friday.
"We know that more than 80% of these are the delta variant, that's what is causing this increase," said Governor John Bel Edwards.
"And what allows the increase is a very low percentage of people who have been vaccinated."
As experts push for vaccine mandates, a governor says he won't
Vaccination rates are likely to increase, Reiner and Schaffner said, if employers and schools required vaccinations.
Former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said the same thing, but added that it probably won't happen until the vaccines get full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"If you want a group of people to get vaccinated very quickly, get these vaccines licensed," Adams told CBS on Sunday.
"And then you will see that the military makes it mandatory, you will see that the companies make it mandatory."
Every vaccine available in the United States has been cleared by the FDA for emergency use, but they have not yet been fully approved.
And the lack of full approval is adding to the doubt about vaccines, Adams said.
Biden says full FDA approval of a covid-19 vaccine could come in late August
When asked on Sunday if vaccine mandates should be on the table, White House coronavirus coordinator Jeffrey Zients told CNN that city governments and businesses should consider any strategy that makes it safe to enter. their facilities, whether they require vaccinations or negative covid-19 tests.
But he wants the FDA to take the time to thoroughly review the approval requests, so that people know that the agency was not "giving in to political pressure."
Zients expects some approval to come sometime in August or September.
President Biden said last week that full approval could come before the end of August.
Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna have started their applications for full FDA approval, while Johnson & Johnson has said it intends to apply for the license.
In Arkansas, where vaccination rates are particularly low, Governor Asa Hutchinson said he will not require vaccinations.
Arkansas reported 11,748 new cases and 56 new deaths last week with a positivity score of 19.32% according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
About 36% of Arkansans are fully vaccinated, the site reported.
Hutchinson said that demanding the inoculation could "provoke a greater reaction of negativity towards the government and later an imposition on the freedom".
CNN's Travis Caldwell, Holly Yan, Dakin Andone, Melissa Alonso, Lauren Mascarenhas, Claudia Dominguez, John Bonifield, Elizabeth Cohen, Deanna Hackney, Chuck Johnston, and Alexandra Meeks contributed to this report.
Covid-19