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(CNN) -
As the covid-19 vaccination rate soared and the number of new infections plummeted in the spring, many Americans thought they had a carefree summer ahead.
But the delay in vaccination and a highly contagious new variant dragged the U.S. back into a fierce spike in covid-19, one that has spawned new mandates for the use of masks and other measures and yet to show signs of slowing down. .
The increase in cases is being driven by unvaccinated Americans, who, according to health officials, also account for the majority of hospitalized patients and deaths from Covid-19 across the country.
Fueling the increase is the dangerous delta variant, a strain so contagious that those who have not previously been infected or have not been vaccinated are likely to contract it, said Scott Gottlieb, director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, for their acronym in English) during the Trump administration.
Covid-19 infections expected in vaccinated people, but the unvaccinated are "the great highway of transmission," experts say
If the United States does not vaccinate a large enough number of its population to help crush this wave, the increase could become the worst in the country so far, some experts warn.
"This wave that we are going through right now has all the potential to be, and already appears to be, the worst wave we have faced so far," said former US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams at an online interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday.
But we don't have to get to that point.
Health officials say the key to turning things around quickly is vaccinating more people.
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"If we work together, we unify as a country, we vaccinate all the stakeholders who were not vaccinated, and we put on our masks to prevent the disease, we could really get this under control in a matter of weeks," the director of the Centers for Control told CNN. and US Disease Prevention (CDC) Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Thursday.
If that doesn't happen, Walensky warned, the United States could soon be seeing the same daily case levels as it was in January - several hundred thousand a day.
This is where we are now.
The average number of cases has multiplied by nine since the beginning of July
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As of Friday, the seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases in the United States was more than 107,100, the highest average in nearly six months, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The last time the average daily cases exceeded 100,000 was on February 11.
The average number of daily cases has increased ninefold since the beginning of July.
Most of the cases come from areas with low vaccination rates, White House covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said in a briefing Monday.
A third of all cases in the United States in the past week came from Florida and Texas, he said.
"The frustrating part is that all of this is preventable," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor School of Medicine, told CNN's Pamela Brown on Thursday.
"If we had really accelerated through May and June and fully vaccinated the country ... we wouldn't have to worry so much about this."
The surges have been particularly pronounced across the South, including Florida and Louisiana, where Walensky said Thursday that there have been "exponential increases" in cases that do not appear to have peaked yet.
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Hospitalizations are highest since February
More than 66,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide as of Saturday night, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Covid-19 hospitalizations in the United States have not been this high since February.
"Today we find ourselves retracing our steps towards the brink. It is highly conceivable that we may once again be heading towards a public health catastrophe," Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo said at a news conference Thursday. .
At that conference, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that the Texas Medical Center campus in Houston had admitted more than 300 COVID-19 patients in one day.
Florida, which leads in the number of adults and children hospitalized for COVID-19, had 12,373 adults and 143 children hospitalized Thursday, according to CDC data.
Data released Friday by the Florida Department of Health showed the state reported a record 134,506 new COVID-19 cases over the past week, for an average of 19,215 cases per day.
The previous record was on January 8, with 125,937 total cases reported over seven days, for an average of 17,991 cases per day, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
Louisiana officials on Friday reported a record 2,421 people hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, surpassing the previous state record that was set just a day earlier.
Of the state's hospitalized patients, about 91% are not vaccinated, authorities said earlier in the week.
Last week, Arkansas reported a record low of 25 ICU beds available statewide.
In Mississippi, health officials said Wednesday that only six ICU beds were available.
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Covid-19 cases in children and adolescents increased 84% in one week
In the week between July 22 and 29, nearly 72,000 new cases of covid-19 were reported in minors, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported Tuesday - a substantial increase from the previous week, when around 39,000 cases, and almost five times more than what was reported at the end of June.
The definition of "children" varies by state, but generally includes those up to the age of 17 or 18.
"I don't think this virus is necessarily targeting children or adolescents, I think what happened is, I think what we are seeing across the South right now is like a fire and it is sweeping everything, including adolescents, including children. younger kids, "Hotez told CNN on Thursday.
Yes, children can get sick from covid-19.
Find out why doctors say they should be protected
"The way it stops is that the largest number of people are vaccinated," he added.
"The more you can vaccinate, you can actually slow down transmission."
The alarming increase comes as schools across the country prepare to welcome students to class, while navigating the safest path forward.
Since children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for a vaccine, some states require students to wear masks, while others have banned school mask-wearing mandates.
Leaders across the country are taking different steps to help protect America's youngest.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the state will give children KN-95 masks and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson called a special session of the Arkansas Legislature to amend an approved law that "ended the requirements mandatory face covering ".
He said he regretted signing the bill, adding that local school districts should have the flexibility to add protection for children under 12, who cannot be vaccinated.
On Friday, an Arkansas judge temporarily blocked the application of that law.
A baby with covid-19 is airlifted due to a shortage of beds at a hospital in Houston
The delta variant represents 93% of COVID-19 cases in the US.
Behind the country's latest surge is the delta variant, which now accounts for more than 93% of coronavirus cases circulating in the U.S., according to CDC data.
This includes several sublineages of delta, all of which are classified as variants of interest.
The number is even higher in parts of the country, including Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, where the delta variant accounts for more than 98% of the circulating virus.
Those numbers show a rapid rise in the prevalence of the variant in the U.S. At the end of May, the CDC estimated that the delta accounted for about 3% of new COVID-19 cases.
An internal CDC document last month said the variant appears to cause more serious illness and is as communicable as chickenpox.
"This is serious," Walensky previously told CNN.
"It is one of the most communicable viruses that we know of."
Officials across the country have said the delta variant is driving increases in their cases.
Mississippi Health Official Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Thursday that the state has seen a "phenomenal increase" in daily cases that is "entirely attributable to the delta variant, which is sweeping Mississippi like a tsunami."
About 97% of new cases are among unvaccinated people, Dobbs said.
"We are seeing that the unvaccinated in our population are driving the current increase. We are seeing about 89% of our hospitalizations and 85% of our deaths among unvaccinated people."
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Most Americans live in areas of high or substantial spread of covid-19
More than 97% of Americans live in areas with "substantial" or "high" COVID-19 transmission, according to CDC data.
The agency said late last month that even fully vaccinated people living in those areas should wear masks indoors, to prevent further spread of the delta variant.
CDC guidance for unvaccinated individuals remains that they should continue to wear face masks until they are fully vaccinated.
The terms "substantial" and "high" are part of the CDC system that measures the level of community transmission in a county based on two metrics: new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people and the positivity rate.
What CDC's "Substantial" and "High" Levels of Covid-19 Transmission Really Mean
Experts say that knowing the amount of virus circulating in a community can help residents understand the type of risk they are taking when choosing whether to wear a mask or not.
The good news
The numbers are grim, but the good news: Covid-19 vaccinations are on the rise, with an average of more than 464,700 people starting their vaccinations every day, as of Thursday, CDC data shows.
That's the highest average daily pace in nearly seven weeks, and a 19% increase from last week's pace.
And some of the steepest increases in vaccinations are several southern states, which for months have seen poor vaccination progress and huge vaccinations.
At the end of July, the average number of new doses applied in Alabama was more than double what it was three weeks earlier.
Louisiana experienced a 111% increase in daily vaccination rates over the same time period, while Missouri saw average daily vaccinations increased by 87%.
About 58.5% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine, and about 50.1% are fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.
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"The definitive answer" to reverse this increase is vaccination, Emergency Medicine doctor Dr. Leana Wen told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
"We know that what will stop the virus, and it really is our only and best way out of the pandemic, is to increase our vaccination rates," Wen said.
"If we have a high enough level of immunity in the US, then we can prevent this virus from wreaking more havoc than it has already done."
CNN's Deidre McPhillips and Michael Nedelman contributed to this report.
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