Fourth COVID-19 surge overwhelms U.S. hospitals: Washington Post

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Hospitals across the United States are "back in crisis mode" due to a fourth surge of the COVID-19 pandemic driven by the Delta variant, according to an article published by The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Increasing COVID-19 cases, common viruses spreading again as people get together, and people who get injured when driving and playing sports have all added up to hospital pressure, said The Post, narrating the story of an Oregon medical center "filled with unvaccinated patients" that had to postpone cancer patients' surgeries.

Double-digit growth in COVID-19 hospitalizations was recorded in 46 of the 50 U.S. states in the week ending Tuesday, and eight states, including California and New York, added more than 400 new inpatients, the article said.

The United States logged 911,529 new cases in the week ending Sunday, and had not seen such a high weekly increase since the week ending Jan. 31 with more than 1 million new infections, The Post said.

More than 59 percent of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, with 50.9 percent fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Doctors say the nationwide outbreak overwhelming hospitals could have been avoided had more people been immunized," wrote The Post.