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In a sign of just how polarizing the vaccine has become, some Missourians are getting vaccinated in secret to avoid backlash from their families.

Just three states––Florida, Missouri, and Texas––account for 40% of the nation’s COVID surge. All three states are severely lagging in vaccination rates.

The US has extended its public health emergency as the Delta variant causes a new COVID surge. The number of COVID cases has tripled in the States––mostly among the unvaccinated––and misinformation about the virus and vaccine has only hindered vaccination rates.

While much of the country is returning to pre-COVID life, a Delta-driven surge has returned Arkansas to the kind of fear and suffering not seen since this time last year. Canada’s vaccination rate has overtaken the United States’s as of July 16, with 48.65% of its citizens fully vaccinated as compared to 48.05%.

The US’s slowing vaccination rates are causing issues. A hospital in Springfield, Missouri has opened its 6th virus ward as the Delta variant rages across the state.

During the past two weeks in Springfield, there has been a 225% increase in hospitalizations since June 1, in large part thanks to the new Delta variant. The Delta variant, a more infectious variant of COVID-19, is infecting a rising number of people in rural Kansas and Missouri. The spread of the variant likely stems from the regions low vaccination rates.

The Delta variant has also been found in Arizona. Its arrival is alarming because, so far, only a handful of states have reached the goal of a 70% vaccination rate. Anheuser-Busch is even giving away free beer when America reaches its vaccine goal. The fewer people who are fully vaccinated, the more likely there is to be another surge or new variants.

Fully vaccinated people in several southern California towns have tested positive for COVID, serving as a reminder that the vaccines are not 100% effective and thus as many people as possible need to get it. COVID rates are slowing in the South and the plains states, worrying health experts. Appointments for the first COVID shot have plummeted by about 50% in Los Angeles, worrying public health officials in a state thrashed by the virus.

Last month, one of the Indian COVID variants was reported in Texas, affecting two children under 12.

The World Health Organization has classified a COVID variant from India as a global health risk because of its highly contagious nature and evidence suggesting that it can evade some vaccine protections.

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