States respond to COVID-19 surges

New York City will require customers to present proof of vaccination before entering restaurants and gyms starting Aug. 16. The U.S. seven-day rolling average of new cases has topped 66,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prompting some states to impose new restrictions. Louisiana, one of the states hardest hit with the delta variant, reinstated an indoor mask mandate even for people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. The country on Monday reached President Joe Biden’s goal of 70 percent vaccinations a month behind schedule. The White House has not issued a new benchmark in response to the surge in cases.

What’s going on with delta? The delta variant accounts for more than 80 percent of new U.S. cases and has infected some vaccinated people. More than 11 million people in Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus was first identified, are undergoing mass testing amid a new outbreak of COVID-19. Most of the country’s new cases have surfaced in the Jiangsu province.

Dig deeper: Listen to Kent Covington’s report on how the coronavirus may have leaked from a Wuhan lab.