Coronavirus

Several States Seeing Rising COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Arkansas' governor is urging people to get vaccinated as cases rise.

Several States Seeing Rising COVID-19 Hospitalizations
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
SMS

In the fight against the coronavirus, hospitalizations are rising in several states among unvaccinated people.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he wants more people vaccinated. His is one of the lowest-vaccinated states in the U.S.

"When our cases went down, the demand for vaccines was reduced as well. And so what you have is that people started feeling comfortable. People saw the cases of hospitalizations down. And so the urgency of getting the vaccine slowed down. We've got to make sure that we do everything we can to get the word out," said Hutchinson.

Hutchinson said he thinks some of the hesitancy is rooted in the FDA's vaccine approval technically being emergency use. He believes final FDA approval would help.

More than 46% of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated.

But states like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Wyoming are among the states with rates lower than 35%.