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In Springfield, Mo., firefighters are giving vaccine shots. Churches are scrambling to schedule vaccine clinics. Students and staff at summer school at the public schools are back to wearing masks. Dozens of traveling nurses are due to arrive at one of the city's two biggest hospitals over the coming weeks; extra ventilators from around Missouri and Arkansas were transported to the other major hospital after it ran short over the July Fourth weekend. The outbreak of COVID-19 in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas has become the nation's largest and is mostly driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Officials warn it could continue to grow unchecked if vaccination rates stay low. (Sullivan, 7/13)

The COVID-19 crisis in and around Springfield, Missouri, where hospitals are now flooded with coronavirus cases, is likely a preview of what's in store for the rest of the state as the delta variant continues to spread. That's the belief of Steve Edwards, CEO of CoxHealth, a key health care system in southwest Missouri. Cox is currently treating 127 patients, similar to the number it had during last winter's horrific surge, and nearly a tenfold increase from the 14 such patients seven weeks ago. Edwards said he hopes people in other parts of Missouri, whose vaccination rate ranks in the bottom 20 among states, "begin to realize that we're kind of a harbinger for the rest of the state." (Ortiz and Bacon, 7/13)

The city of Springfield, Missouri, announced Monday that it was canceling a major summer festival as COVID-19 surges in the region. The Birthplace of Route 66 Festival, which was scheduled for Aug. 13-14 and typically includes live music and a classic car parade, has been called off for the second year in a row due to COVID-19. In 2019, the last year the festival was held, it drew 65,000 attendees over two days, and it was expected to host 75,000 this year, according to the city. (Schumaker, 7/13)

Georgia’s color-coded county map has begun to show shades that reflect an uptick of COVID cases. And the state’s graph that tracks daily infections has turned upward after a June bottom. The state, along with 46 others, has seen an increase of COVID infections over the past two weeks, according to New York Times data. Georgia’s 143 percent rise over the last two weeks exceeds the U.S. average of 94 percent. (Miller, 7/14)

There are 231 Utahns hospitalized for COVID-19, the Utah Department of Health reported Tuesday — and a leading Utah doctor confirmed that most didn’t get a COVID-19 vaccine. ”The vast majority of the patients that are being admitted are in the unvaccinated population,” Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, an infectious diseases physician at Intermountain Healthcare, said in a COVID-19 community briefing Tuesday over Facebook Live. “From a caregiver’s standpoint, that’s just really disappointing, because these are preventable hospitalizations.” (Means and Pierce, 7/13)

For U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the toll of COVID-19 is measured in deaths and hospital occupancy rates, but in less visible metrics, too. During a Tuesday trip to New Mexico, Murthy expressed concern about the mental health implications of the pandemic, particularly among children, and said more resources need to be targeted at an issue that could take years to fully manifest. “What we’ve been through collectively and individually is trauma,” Murthy said during a Santa Fe event honoring eight health care officials, nurses and scientists from around New Mexico for their role in the state’s pandemic response. (Boyd, 7/13)

KHN: Red State, Blue State, Twin Outbreak: Behind Wyoming And Colorado’s Anomalous Covid Spikes 

Brandon Graves said covid-19 arrived in Wheatland the way new movies do in this High Plains farming town: months after hitting the big cities and without much fanfare. “It kind of trickled in and it never really exploded here,” said Graves, a lifelong resident and mayor of the town of about 3,500, the largest in Platte County. (Bichell, 7/14)

For the fifth consecutive day, Los Angeles County has recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases. Health officials say the upward trajectory is almost entirely driven by transmission among those who have yet to be vaccinated for COVID-19, as well as increased circulation of the easily spread Delta variant of the virus. “It’s clear that the threat of COVID-19 is still with us and that we are dealing with a more infectious variant that causes it,” county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said. “The best collective action that each of us can take is to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if you’re eligible, and to take sensible precautions if you are not eligible or choose not to get vaccinated.” (Money, 7/13)

California’s reopening last month coincided with a spike in coronavirus outbreaks at workplaces across the state, according to the California Department of Public Health data. The state defines an outbreak as three cases in a single location in a two-week period. Coronavirus outbreaks at workplaces declined rapidly at the beginning of this year, from more than 2,400 in January to just over 200 in May, according to state health department data provided to the California Occupational Safety and Health — or Cal/OSHA — Standards Board. (DiFeliciantonio, 7/13)