Biden to announce plan to fight variant

As one poll shows a drop in approval of his handling of the pandemic, President Joe Biden on Thursday will outline what the White House described as a six-pronged strategy to slow the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus and boost vaccination rates.

The announcement on Tuesday from White House press secretary Jen Psaki comes as the US on Monday reached more than 40 million recorded coronavirus cases since the COVID-19 pandemic began and as health officials try to contain the Delta variant.

Nearly 650,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began more than 18 months ago.

Biden indicated last week that his administration is looking for ways to make it safer for children to return to school and for workers to return to offices.

The president's approval rating on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic has dropped by 10 points since June, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey found that 52 percent of adults approved of the way he is handling COVID-19, down from 62 percent who said he was doing a good job in late June.

The Washington Post COVID-19 tracker found that hospitalizations on Labor Day in 2021 reached 99,270, compared with 38,192 people in 2020.

On Sept 1, Republican Idaho Governor Brad Little pleaded with people to get vaccinated: "I wish everyone could have seen what I saw in the ICU last night."

On Tuesday, the state's Health and Welfare department said that it has activated "crisis standards of care" to allow the state's northern hospitals to allot scarce resources like intensive care unit rooms to patients most likely to survive because there are more coronavirus patients than institutions can handle.

The designation includes 10 hospitals and healthcare systems in the Idaho panhandle and in north-central Idaho.

Other patients in dire need but with lower chances of surviving will be given "comfort care" to help keep them pain-free whether they succumb to their illnesses or recover.

They may be placed in hospital classrooms or conference rooms rather than traditional hospital rooms or go without some lifesaving medical equipment.

The designation will remain in effect until there are enough resources — including staffing, hospital beds and equipment or a drop in the number of patients — to provide normal levels of treatment to all.

The move comes as the state's confirmed coronavirus cases skyrocketed in recent weeks. Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the US.

More than 500 people were hospitalized statewide with COVID-19 on Sept 1 — according to the most recent data available on the Health and Welfare website — more than a third in intensive care unit beds.

Medical experts have said that Idaho could have as many as 30,000 new coronavirus cases a week by mid-September if the current rate of infections continues.

In West Virginia, Republican Governor Jim Justice said at a news conference on Monday that the virus had flooded many of his state's hospitals and closed schools there.

"We've got a really big time, big time situation in West Virginia, as it is all across this nation," said Justice.

After reading a list of people who died in his state from causes related to the disease since Sept 3, Justice pleaded with unvaccinated people of West Virginia to get inoculated.