New COVID-19 cases in US tripled over last year

The United States is reporting three times more cases of COVID-19 on an average than it did a year ago.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day average of daily new cases in the US was 1,37,270 as of Monday. At the same time last year, the country was averaging just over 39,000.

Labour Day weekend saw more than three times the number of new cases than in 2020 -- during a time when many thought the pandemic may be coming to a close, according to new data from the University. The surge in cases is blamed on the delta variant, which health officials say is more transmissible than other variants.

Currently, just 53 per cent of the Americans, including kids as young as 12 years, are fully vaccinated; just over 62 per cent have had at least one dose, indicating that new COVID-19 vaccine uptake is slowing.

The US is facing a different type of pandemic this wave. Now, people have the option to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccines were not available at this time last year.

However widespread vaccinations have helped limit COVID-19 deaths. Despite seeing more than three times as many daily cases on Labour Day 2021 compared to last year, the US only sees about 1.8 times as many daily deaths.

Hospitalisations are far higher now than they were at this time last year, meaning an impending fall spike in hospital resource use could be devastating. Hospitals across the several spiking states struggle to maintain operations amid shortages of beds, medical supplies and personal protective equipment.

Concerns regarding an impending spike from Labour Day prompted CDC Director Rochelle Walesnky last week to recommend that those who are not vaccinated avoid travel.

Despite the warnings from the CDC, the Transportation Security Administration screened 7.3 million travellers between Friday and Monday, compared to 3.2 million travellers for the same weekend in 2020. That marks a year-over-year increase of more than 4 million additional travellers.

( With inputs from ANI )