Most states are seeing a new spike in Covid-19 infections as variants of the virus are driving up case numbers and vaccine take-up remains low in many areas.
More than 40 states and the District of Columbia have documented an increase in average daily cases over the past two weeks.
But fifteen states, including seven in the South, have seen their infections at least double across the 14-day period, according to New York Times statistics.
It comes after President Joe Biden's administration is reportedly out of ideas on how to raise the stagnate Covid vaccination rate and is moving ahead with how to manage the pandemic with only 68 per cent of adults vaccinated.
On July 12, Los Angeles County recorded more than 1,000 new cases for four days in a row this week for the first time since March.
More than 40 states have documented an increase in average daily cases over the past two weeks amid vaccine hesitancy (pictured: woman gets a Covid vaccine in Los Angeles)
Fifteen states, including seven in the South, have seen their infections at least double across the 14-day period despite restrictions easing (pictured: People in New York on July 8)
The populous Californian county recorded an average of 851 cases per day on Monday, a staggering 228 per cent increase from the average two weeks previously.
Elsewhere in Mississippi, Covid infections are beginning to spike as 796 new cases were recorded on July 12, compared with just 356 on June 30.
Southern states including Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina have seen their cases more than double across the last two weeks.
'The majority of states have large swaths of population that are still not protected,' said Amber D'Souza, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Overall, the US is recording an average of more than 23,000 new infections for the first time since the end of May, marking a 94 per cent increase from two weeks ago.
Ms D'Souza said that the new data shows that outbreaks are mostly hitting areas with lower vaccination rates and said they expect a continuing surge in infections until vaccination numbers rise.
It comes after President Biden's administration is out of ideas on how to raise the stagnate COVID vaccination rate, according to a report on Monday.
They reportedly plan to move ahead with how to manage the pandemic with only 68 per cent of adults vaccinated amid vaccination hesitancy.
Resistance to getting a shot in the arm, led by some Republicans, has caused the vaccination rate to flatline despite an all-out effort by the White House to raise it.
