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| August's delta variant-driven COVID-19 surge made it one of the worst months of the entire pandemic. |
| More than 26,800 Americans died of COVID-19 in August, more than three times the number of people who died of the virus in July. More Americans were reported dead of COVID-19 in the last week of August than in all of July. |
| Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon, Washington and the U.S. Virgin Islands reported their worst month ever for cases. Meanwhile, Florida reported its worst month of deaths in the entire pandemic. |
| It's Wednesday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the USA TODAY Network. Here's more news you need to know. |
| • | The recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed Social Security one year closer to insolvency, the government reported Tuesday. Projections show Social Security will be unable to pay full benefits in 2034, which is one year sooner than previous projections. | | • | Hospitals are running out of oxygen again. Hospitals in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Augusta, Georgia; and Lexington, Kentucky, among others, are having conversations about what to do if they run out of oxygen and ventilators. | | • | Connally Independent School District, a Central Texas school district, closed its schools until after Labor Day weekend after two teachers died last week from COVID-19. | | • | Virginia Tech disenrolled 134 students for not following COVID-19 vaccine requirements by failing to submit documentation of their vaccination or receive medical or religious exemption, several local media outlets reported. | | • | Dr. Robert W. Finberg, one of the nation's leading infectious disease experts and COVID-19 vaccine researchers, died unexpectedly Monday at age 71. | |
| Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 39.3 million COVID-19 cases and 641,400 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 218.1 million cases and more than 4.5 million deaths. About 62% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 52% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among U.S. adults, 74% have received at least one shot, and about 64% are fully vaccinated. |
| Tracking the pandemic: See the numbers in your area here. See where cases are rising here. See vaccination rates here. And here, compare vaccinations rates worldwide and see which countries are using which vaccines. |
| – Grace Hauck, USA TODAY breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck |
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