Florida is reporting 231 additional deaths from COVID-19 and more than 45-thousand new cases over the past week.
Meanwhile, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients [ZY-eents] points to this state as one of the hardest-hit.
"Just four states accounted for more than 40 percent of all cases in the past week, with one in five of all cases occurring in Florida alone, he said during a White House briefing Friday.
Just 45 percent of Florida's overall population is fully vaccinated. Fifty-one percent have received at least one shot.
The highly transmissible Delta variant is contributing to the new cases, but people getting vaccinated could make all the difference.
"Unvaccinated Americans account for virtually all recent COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths," Zients said. "Each COVID-19 death is tragic, and those happening now are even more tragic because they are preventable."
He urges everyone 12 and up to get vaccinated.
