COVID-19 live updates: Arkansas sees highest hospitalization increase since start of pandemic

(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 613,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 58.1% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC last week, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.

Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:

Aug 03, 11:25 am

Data ‘tipping’ to show delta more serious for kids than past variants

National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins told CNN Tuesday the data is “tipping” toward showing how the delta variant is more serious for children than past variants.

Collins listed studies from Singapore, Scotland and Canada that “certainly tilts the balance in that direction” but made clear that more data is needed.

Collins also added that part of the reason the U.S. is seeing more children in hospitals is because they’re part of the unvaccinated population and he doesn’t want to “overstate the confidence.”

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Aug 03, 10:23 am
NYC to require proof of vaccination to eat inside

New York City will soon require vaccinations for workers and customers for indoor dining, indoor fitness facilities and indoor entertainment facilities, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.

This mandate will be enforced as of Sept. 13.

Aug 03, 8:55 am
US ships more than 100 million vaccine doses abroad

The Biden administration has hit a vaccine-sharing milestone, shipping more than 110 doses to over 60 countries around the world, mostly through COVAX, the World Health Organization’s vaccine-sharing initiative. The U.S. has shared more doses than every other country combined, according to United Nations data.

Starting at the end of August, the U.S. will begin shipping another batch of 500 million doses of Pfizer to 100 low-income countries across the globe. Two-hundred million of those 500 million doses are expected to be shipped in 2021.

Aug 03, 8:24 am
Arkansas sees highest increase in hospitalizations since start of pandemic

Another 81 COVID-19 patients were admitted to Arkansas hospitals on Monday, the highest increase in hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic, Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted.

The state now has 1,220 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 250 on ventilators.

“We continue to see nearly all hospitalizations among the unvaccinated,” the governor wrote. “Hospitals are full & the only remedy is for more Arkansans to be vaccinated.”