Quote:The United States recorded 79,310 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number is the highest in the world, exceeding recorded totals from Indonesia (54,000), the United Kingdom (51,949), and Brazil (45,591), and doubling that of India (38,079). The spiking case number matches the level hit in October 2020, a record at the time, though it would not remain so for long. Despite the effectiveness of multiple vaccines against the virus, vaccine hesitancy is fueling “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. The vast majority of all patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, according to the CDC.