The Delta variant, vaccine hesitancy and a push back against mask-wearing has driven up COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. to over 100,000 for the first time since late January. The southern U.S. has seen the biggest uptick in hospitalizations where the Washington Post database finds that every single state in the region has a higher per capita rate than the national average. Florida alone has more than 17,000 hospital beds occupied—more than any other state in the country. Texas, with 14,000 hospitalizations, is a close second. The most disturbing figure is the number of pediatric hospitalizations, which have topped 2,000 for the first time in more than a year. On Wednesday, more than 148,000 new infections and 1,100 deaths were reported across the nation.
