Delta COVID variant, now dominant worldwide, drives surge of U.S. deaths - officials
July 16 (Reuters) - The Delta variant of COVID-19 is now the dominant strain worldwide and is driving a surge of deaths around the United States, almost entirely among unvaccinated people, U.S. officials said Friday.
Cases of COVID-19 are up 70% over the previous week and deaths are up 26%, with most of the surge occuring in counties with below average vaccination rates, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said during a press briefing.
"This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated," she said. (Reporting by Carl O'Donnell, Jeff Mason and Lisa Lambert)
