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Keisha Bryan, a psychotherapist near Raleigh, North Carolina, had a slate of activities she wanted to do this summer with her husband and their 5-year-old daughter: attend neighborhood parties, visit a trampoline park and travel to Walt Disney World for a much-needed family vacation. But even something as carefree as the Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo, which they've attended previously, is off the table this year after event organizers announced Monday it was canceled because of the surge of Covid-19 cases in the region. North Carolina, like many states across the country, has been hit by a doubling of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations rising due to the highly transmissible delta variant. (Ortiz, 7/28)

“It’s like the sun has come up in the morning and everyone is arguing about it,” said Jim Taylor, 66, a retired civil servant in Baton Rouge, La., a state in which fewer than half of adults are fully vaccinated. “The virus is here and it’s killing people, and we have a time-tested way to stop it — and we won’t do it. It’s an outrage.” (Rabin, 7/27)

Despite the widespread access of highly effective vaccines, COVID-19 is again on the rise. Many of these cases are coming from a handful of states where vaccine rates are low. In the South, COVID-19 cases and related deaths are well above the national average. During the week of July 19, more than 40 percent of COVID-19 cases came from three states (Florida, Texas, and Missouri), according to public health officials. Most of those cases involve unvaccinated patients. Here’s a closer look at the problem. (Dixon, 7/28)

A Springfield hospital announced Tuesday that it expanded its morgue capacity amid an increase in COVID-19 deaths, while the Kansas City mayor announced he would reinstate a mask mandate for indoor spaces. Missouri has the nation’s fourth-worst COVID-19 diagnosis rate over the past week, with one in every 360 people diagnosed with COVID-19. Its seven-day rolling average of daily deaths has nearly doubled over the past two weeks, according to data from John Hopkins. (Hollingsworth, 7/28)

Florida leads the nation in new COVID-19 infections, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting a seven-day average of more than 10,000 per day last week. In the greater Tampa Bay region, cases recorded last week nearly doubled since a week before — and area hospitals are once again filling up with COVID-19 patients. “A few weeks ago around the Fourth of July holiday, we had 12 to 14 new cases a day and now we’re seeing about 70 to 80 patients admitted to the hospital daily,” Dr. Peggy Duggan, chief medical officer at Tampa General Hospital, said in an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition on Monday. (Wentz, 7/27)

AdventHealth Central Florida hospitals were moved "red" status on Monday, filled with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, Medical Director Dr. Victor Herrera said. This highest level of caution means that elective outpatient surgeries may be deferred. The Central Florida Division covers Polk, Orange, Osceola, Lake, Seminole, Volusia and Flagler counties. There are some 862 COVID-19 patients at AdventHealth Central Florida hospitals, near the peak of 900 patients in January. (Prieur, 7/27)

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections on Tuesday said it would be temporarily suspending visitation and volunteering at all state-run prisons as Louisiana is reporting record surges in COVID-19 infections among its largely unvaccinated population. The corrections agency announced in a press release that the suspension would remain in place until Aug. 16, at which point the department “will review and reconsider the need for these measures.” (Castronuovo, 7/27)

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) on Tuesday placed partial blame for the recent surge in COVID-19 cases on immigrants crossing into the U.S. from its southern border. "Part of the problem is the southern border is open and we’ve got 88 countries that are coming across the border and they don’t have vaccines so none of them are vaccinated and they’re getting dispersed throughout the country," Reynolds said to reporters, according to the Des Moines Register. (Choi, 7/27)

Nerve damage and a buildup of immune cells in the cornea may be a sign of "long COVID," a long-term syndrome that emerges in some people after COVID-19 infection, a new study suggests. These preliminary results will need to be verified in a larger group of people with long COVID, or COVID-19 long-haulers, as they're known, an expert told Live Science. But the findings do hint at something scientists already suspected: Some symptoms of long COVID emerge due to peripheral nerve damage, she said. (Lanese, 7/27)