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Covid-19 vaccination rates are down and cases are on the rise, exacerbated by the more transmissible Delta variant -- and an expert says the key to winning the race against the spread is getting more Americans vaccinated. "We're losing time here. The Delta variant is spreading, people are dying, we can't actually just wait for things to get more rational," Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health told CNN Wednesday. (Holcombe, 7/15)

Even as many Americans celebrate the apparent waning of the pandemic, the thrum of concern over the so-called Delta variant grows steadily louder. The variant, the most contagious version yet of the coronavirus, accounts for more than half of new infections in the United States, federal health officials reported this month. The spread of the variant has prompted a vigorous new vaccination push from the Biden administration, and federal officials are planning to send medical teams to communities facing outbreaks that now seem inevitable. (Mandavilli and Mueller, 7/14)

Larger nursing home staffs are a strong predictor of COVID-19 outbreaks at those facilities, according to research published Wednesday. Summer 2020 COVID-19 case rates at nursing homes with the most unique staff members were 92% higher than at facilities with the lowest numbers of staff, the Health Affairs study found. Those same nursing homes with large staff volumes also had cumulative staff and resident death rates that were 69% and 133% higher than their counterparts, respectively. The study controlled for staffing ratios, skill mixes and community spread. It calculated historical turnover but didn't find it to be a predictor or one of the key reasons nursing homes' daily staff sizes change. (Christ, 7/14)

With COVID-19 on the rise again and many nursing home staffers unvaccinated, families still lack easy access to crucial Medicare immunization data that will help them pick the right facility for their loved one. Medicare has a “Care Compare” website for consumers it has spent years refining. But that’s not where the agency is posting vaccination numbers for residents and staff at individual nursing homes. Instead Medicare is relying on a COVID-19 data page geared to researchers. One way to navigate it involves scouring a map for little red dots that represent nursing homes. There’s also a huge spreadsheet. It’s not seen as particularly user-friendly. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/14)

Forty-seven states reported more new COVID-19 cases last week than in the week before, and deaths rose in 30 states compared to a week earlier, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In Missouri, where cases are surging, one county asked the state for funding Wednesday to establish an "alternate care site" for COVID-19 patients. "Over the past week, we have seen dramatic increases in COVID-19-related cases," Katie Towns, interim director for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said at a press conference. "We need help." (Aspegren, Vargas and Hauck, 7/14)

“The increase in severe illness is projected to outpace hospital capacity,” they warned in a statement late Wednesday. Their request was submitted to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the State Emergency Management Agency. A location for the site has not been determined, but Greene County officials hope to use it to provide care for COVID-19 patients waiting to transition to long-term care and also offer shelter for homeless people who test positive for COVID-19. (Munz, 7/14)

At least eight fully-vaccinated Nevada health care workers tested positive for the coronavirus last month in a rare cluster of "breakthrough" cases, according to a report. In all, 11 coworkers were infected after an off-site pool party, the vast majority came down with the Delta variant, which is believed to spread more easily, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, citing emails obtained from the Southern Nevada Health District. Two out of the three who weren’t fully vaccinated had received at least one dose of the vaccine, the newspaper reported. (Stimson, 7/15)

Arizona on Wednesday reported its largest daily number of COVID-19 infections in four months, but public health officials attributed the rise to an “electronic reporting issue” that had lowered the numbers the two previous days. The 1,945 cases reported Wednesday was the largest daily increase since 2,276 infections were reported on March 5, at the tail end of the winter surge, according to data from the state’s coronavirus dashboard. The rise follows daily case reports of 122 and 345 on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. (Davenport, 7/14)

The Louisiana Department of Health this week reported the most new coronavirus cases in the state since mid-February — a time when vaccines weren't available to a broad section of the population and the nation emerged from a crushing winter surge. Officials warned that the virus’s more-transmissible delta variant, first detected in India, is running rampant among unvaccinated residents and hospitals are reporting growing patient numbers. (Finn, Cobler and Woodruff, 7/14)

Los Angeles County is seeing a surge in new Covid-19 coronavirus cases, topping 1,000 for the fifth straight day Wednesday, and though hospitalizations remain low, each infected patient admitted to a county hospital has not had all their vaccine shots, officials said. (Mossburg, 7/14)

At least 59 residents at Sonoma County’s largest homeless shelter have tested positive for the coronavirus, with another possible 26 positive cases, county officials said on Wednesday. Nearly half of those who tested positive were fully vaccinated, said Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer. The shelter first reported 20 positive cases July 2. Since then, more than a third of the 156 residents at Samuel L. Jones Hall in Santa Rosa have tested positive. (Vaziri, 7/14)

The highly transmissible delta variant has prompted Yolo County to urge residents to wear masks indoors again. “I am erring on the side of caution to slow the spread of the highly infectious delta variant,” said Dr. Aimee Sisson, the health officer for the county, in a press release on Wednesday. Sisson “strongly recommended” that fully vaccinated people, along with those who are 65 and older or immunocompromised, wear masks in indoor public areas as a “precautionary measure,” according to the press release. (Hwang, 7/14)