"Louisiana, we remain in a dangerous situation with COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continuing to climb. Today is the fourth day in a row we have broken our own record for hospitalizations, threatening the ability of our hospitals to care for patients," Governor Bel Edwards said in a statement on Friday.
As of Friday, the number of people hospitalized in Louisiana due to coronavirus infection is 2,421, according to the state's Health Department.
Edwards said unvaccinated residents make up nine out of every ten new cases and 85 percent of deaths reported last week.
The Miami Herald reported the state of Florida confirmed 22,783 new cases on Friday, the highest single-day count since the pandemic began last January. The state also reached record-breaking hospitalizations for a fifth consecutive day, currently standing at 13,427, the report added.
On Thursday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky reported a 43 percent increase in the number of new coronavirus cases, hospital admissions and deaths in recent days, as the more transmissible Delta variant has become the most prevalent and fastest-spreading mutation in the country.
The United States leads the world in the number of vaccinations as well as new coronavirus cases. A spike in US COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant has affected the support for US President Joe Biden's handling of the pandemic, which fell by more than 10 percentage points in July, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.