Just 56.2% of Americans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/b>
\nMISSION, Kan. \u2014 COVID-19 cases tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray. \u201cOur staff, they are frustrated,\u201d said Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital that is canceling elective surgeries and procedures after the number of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 inpatients at its two campuses jumped to 134, up from a low of 16 in mid-May. \u201cThey are tired. They are thinking this is d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again, and there is some anger because we know that this is a largely preventable situation, and people are not taking advantage of the vaccine.\u201d Across the U.S., the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases rose over the past two weeks to more than 37,000 on Tuesday, up from less than 13,700 on July 6, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Health officials blame the delta variant and slowing vaccination rates. Just 56.2% of Americans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Louisiana, health officials reported 5,388 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday \u2014 the third-highest daily count since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. Hospitalizations for the disease rose to 844 statewide, up more than 600 since mid-June. Utah reported having 295 people hospitalized due to the virus, the highest number since February. The state has averaged about 622 confirmed cases per day over the last week, about triple the infection rate at its lowest point in early June. Health data shows the surge is almost entirely connected to unvaccinated people. \u201cIt is like seeing the car wreck before it happens,\u201d said Dr. James Williams, a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at Texas Tech, who has recently started treating more COVID-19 patients. \u201cNone of us want to go through this again.\u201d He said the patients are younger \u2014 many in their 20s,30s and 40s \u2014 and overwhelmingly unvaccinated. As lead pastor of one of Missouri\u2019s largest churches, Jeremy Johnson has heard the reasons congregants don\u2019t want the COVID-19 vaccine. He wants them to know it\u2019s not only OK to get vaccinated, it\u2019s what the Bible urges. \u201cI think there is a big influence of fear,\u201d said Johnson, whose Springfield-based church also has a campus in Nixa and another about to open in Republic. \u201cA fear of trusting something apart from scripture, a fear of trusting something apart from a political party they\u2019re more comfortable following. A fear of trusting in science. We hear that: \u2018I trust in God, not science.\u2019 But the truth is science and God are not something you have to choose between.\u201d Now many churches in southwestern Missouri, like Johnson\u2019s Assembly of God-affiliated North Point Church, are hosting vaccination clinics. Meanwhile, about 200 church leaders have signed onto a statement urging Christians to get vaccinated, and on Wednesday announced a follow-up public service campaign. Opposition to vaccination is especially strong among white evangelical Protestants, who make up more than one-third of Missouri\u2019s residents, according to a 2019 report by the Pew Research Center. \u201cWe found that the faith community is very influential, very trusted, and to me that is one of the answers as to how you get your vaccination rates up,\u201d said Ken McClure, mayor of Springfield. The two hospitals in his city are teeming with patients, reaching record and near-record pandemic highs. Steve Edwards, who is the CEO of CoxHealth in Springfield, tweeted that the hospital has brought in 175 traveling nurses and has 46 more scheduled to arrive by Monday. \u201cGrateful for the help,\u201d wrote Edwards, who previously tweeted that anyone spreading misinformation about the vaccine should \u201cshut up.\u201d Jacob Burmood, a 40-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, artist, said his mother has been promoting vaccine conspiracy theories even though her husband \u2014 Burmood\u2019s stepfather \u2014 is hospitalized on a ventilator in Springfield. \u201cIt is really, really sad, and it is really frustrating,\u201d he said. Burmood recalled how his mother had recently fallen ill and \u201cwas trying to tell me that vaccinated people got her sick, and it wasn\u2019t even COVID. I just shut her down. I said, \u2018Mom, I can\u2019t talk to you about conspiracy theories right now.\u2019… You need to go to a hospital. You are going to die.\u201d His mother, who is in her 70s, has since recovered. In New York City, workers in city-run hospitals and health clinics will be required to get vaccinated or get tested weekly as officials battle a rise in COVID-19 cases, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday. De Blasio\u2019s order will not apply to teachers, police officers and other city employees, but it\u2019s part of the city\u2019s intense focus on vaccinations amid an increase in delta variant infections. The number of vaccine doses being given out daily in the city has dropped to less than 18,000, down from a peak of more than 100,000 in early April. About 65% of all adults are fully vaccinated, but the inoculation rate is around 25% among Black adults under age 45. About 45% of the workforce in the city\u2019s public hospital system is Black. Meanwhile, caseloads have been rising in the city for weeks, and health officials say the variant makes up about 7 in 10 cases they sequence. \u201cWe need our health care workers to be vaccinated, and it\u2019s getting dangerous with the delta variant,\u201d de Blasio told CNN. Back in Louisiana, New Orleans officials weighed a possible revival of at least some of the mitigation efforts that had been eased as the disease was waning. Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the city\u2019s top health official, Dr. Jennifer Avegno, were expected to make an announcement later Wednesday. On Tuesday, Cantrell spokesman Beau Tidwell said \u201call options are on the table.\u201d ___ Salter reported from St. Louis.<\/p>\n