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A new data analysis identifies clusters of unvaccinated people, most of them in the southern United States, that are vulnerable to surges in Covid-19 cases and could become breeding grounds for even more deadly Covid-19 variants. The analysis by researchers at Georgetown University identified 30 clusters of counties with low vaccination rates and significant population sizes. The five most significant of those clusters are sprawled across large swaths of the southeastern United States and a smaller portion in the Midwest. (Cohen and Bonfield, 7/8)

A CDC epidemiologist has arrived in southwest Missouri as part of a White House-supported “surge response team” to combat the recent outbreak of the aggressive delta COVID-19 variant. The epidemiologist is working out of Springfield, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services spokeswoman Lisa Cox. Another federal worker could arrive next week to “support communications,” Cox said. The White House confirmed Wednesday evening that a two-person team has deployed to Missouri at the state and Greene County’s request. The team is committed to the state through August 6. (Kuang and Lowry, 7/7)

New York held a ticker-tape parade Wednesday for the health care workers and others who helped the city pull through the darkest days of COVID-19, while authorities in Missouri struggled to beat back a surge blamed on the fast-spreading delta variant and deep resistance to getting vaccinated. The split-screen images could be a glimpse of what public health experts say may lie ahead for the U.S. even as life gets back to something close to normal: outbreaks in corners of the country with low vaccination rates. (Hollinsworth and Hajela, 7/7)

Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Wednesday by exactly 1,000, the largest single-day increase since February. The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose by double-digits for the second consecutive day. After rising by 55 on Tuesday, the number of coronavirus patients in Arkansas hospitals rose Wednesday by 16 to 432, its highest level since March 1. (Davis, 7/7)

The number of Utahns hospitalized with COVID-19 has surged in the last two weeks, and leaders from four of the state’s leading hospital systems joined forces Wednesday to urge people to get vaccinated. ”We have a definitive tool to end the pandemic,” said Dr. Kencee Graves, associate chief medical officer for inpatient care at University of Utah Health. “We have a definitive tool to take care of each other, to keep each other save, and that is the vaccine.” The Utah Department of Health reported Wednesday that 260 Utahns were hospitalized with COVID-19. On June 21, 16 days earlier, that number was 150. (Means and Pierce, 7/7)

The number of Iowans hospitalized with COVID-19 is ticking up, though the raw numbers are close to what they were at the start of pandemic last year. The Iowa Department of Public Health reported that 85 people were hospitalized in Iowa with the disease on Wednesday, July 7, after briefly briefly falling 50 two weeks prior. The 46 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on June 24 was the lowest reported since March 27, 2020. The number of new reported cases has remained relatively steady, at just over 500, compared to the prior 7-day period starting at the end June. (Coltrain, 7/7)

More than 40 percent of new COVID-19 hospitalizations at Houston Methodist are the Delta variant, researchers said Wednesday, a number expected to rise as travel returns but vaccination rates stagnate nationwide. “The number of Delta variant COVID-19 cases at Houston Methodist has nearly doubled over the last week and is sixfold higher than in May,” said Houston Methodist spokesperson Lisa Merkl. Delta variant cases made up just 20 percent of hospitalizations at the hospital system the week prior. (Wu, 7/7)

KHN: Delta Variant Surges In Colorado As The Bands Play On

Dr. Rachel LaCount grasped a metal hoop at a playground and spun in circles with her 7-year-old son, turning the distant mesas of the Colorado National Monument into a red-tinged blur. LaCount has lived in this western Colorado city of 64,000 nearly her whole life. As a hospital pathologist, she knows better than most that her hometown has become one of the nation’s top breeding grounds for the delta variant of covid-19. “The delta variant’s super scary,” LaCount said. (Bichell, 7/8)

COVID-19 deaths have nearly bottomed out in the Bay Area, with an average of one new death reported a day for the nine-county region — the lowest number since the start of the pandemic and a dramatic drop from the winter surge, when nearly 70 people were dying every day. The region reported no deaths Sunday through Tuesday, the first time three consecutive days have passed without a COVID fatality in more than 15 months. Deaths statewide have also dropped sharply, to about 20 a day from a peak of more than 500 in January. Nationally, average daily deaths have declined to about 200, the fewest since late March 2020. (Allday, 7/7)