has become. and going home with gold. the olympic flame extinguished in tokyo. how american athletes, especially american women, stole the show. i m phil mattingly in washington in for fredricka whitfield. right now, the covid pandemic is surging in the u.s. and shows no signs of slowing down. to know how bad it is, all you have to do is look at the numbers. the average number of daily cases has increased nine fold since july, the delta variant fuelling this rise in cases and overwhelming hospitals in many states. hospital even more troubling is how this variant is affecting children. childhood and teen cases have jumped 84% in the past week. despite those numbers, only half of the country is vaccinated. health officials say the drive is because of the unvaccinated which make up most of the hospitalizations and deaths we re seeing now. we would not be in the place we are in right now with this delta surge if we had been more effective in getting everybody to take advantag
we begin with a big sign of progress in the u.s. vaccination campaign against the coronavirus. but it comes, hand in hand, with a record the country could do without. as for the milestone, half of americans are now fully vaccinated, according to data released friday. but in the state of florida, the delta variant is spreading, at unprecedented speed. we are talking about 20,000 new cases, per day, on average. florida had more than 134,000 new cases, total, over the past week. the highest number, since the pandemic began. and the fda is stepping up efforts to make a decision about booster shots for people whose immune systems have been compromised. an administration official says the decision could come before early september. but despite the uptick in vaccinations, the covid surge is showing no signs of slowing down. nick valencia reports. reporter: a major milestone for the country with half the total-u.s. population fully vaccinated. but the grim count of covid deaths is
live from cnn headquarters, live for those watching here in canada, united states and around the world, i m kim brunhuber. this is cnn newsroom. we begin with an encouraging sign of progress in the u.s. vaccination campaign against the coronavirus. half of all americans are now fully vaccinated, according to data released friday, despite that, the number of new cases keeps growing. now topping 100,000 per day. and in florida, the delta variant is spreading at unprecedented speed. we re talking about 20,000 new cases per day on average. florida had more than 134,000 new cases total over the past week. the highest number since the pandemic began. but the white house is making it clear, the nation isn t headed for another lockdown. nick valencia has the latest on vaccination efforts across the country. reporter: a major milestone for the country, with half the total u.s. population fully vaccinated. but the grim count of covid deaths is rising fast. a 52% increase over l
the u.s. now hitting a major milestone. the cdc says over 50% of the population is now fully vaccinated. this is important. vaccinations in states hardest hit by the delta variant have been rising in recent days. but that has not been able to slow the deluge of patients pushing hospitals to capacity. there is new word that booster shots for the immunocompromised may be recommended, an administration official tells cnn. the fda could come to that decision in just the next few weeks. we want to begin in florida, where new cases are breaking state records. cnn s natasha chen is in orlando this morning. natasha, there is no question, florida has become the epicenter of this new surge, but the state is not alone. reporter: right. unfortunately, this is happening in many places. the good news is the health staff behind me at this mobile unit for the vaccination clinic we re here at today, they say that every time they see a spike in cases in florida here, they also see a spike in
dana: i m dana perino. if the president will take a shot at them you can imagine they would push back. not exactly constructive. but the feud is erupting after president biden singled out texas and florida for banning mask mandates saying those states account for 1/3 of new infections. he said help slow the spread or get out of the way. ron desantis firing back. joe biden suggests if you don t do lockdown policies you should get out of the way. let me tell you this, if you are coming after the rights of parents in florida i m standing in your way. dana: griff jenkins is covering the story from the white house. governor desantis has been standing in the white house s way as loudly as humanly possible, i think. remember he was an immediate hard no on school mask mandates and now he is not taking lightly being called out by the president on tuesday. president biden: governors not willing to do the right thing. if you aren t willing to help at least get out of the way f