U.S. hospitalizations for COVID-19 are averaging nearly 35,000 per day, which is nearly 50 percent over the previous week, according to federal data, but it’s much lower than the pandemic’s peak in January 2021. The United States is also reporting about 300 deaths per day, which is an increase from the 170 per day in early July. However, that’s far below the 2,000 daily deaths during the spring 2020 numbers and the 3,000 per day during the winter, according to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the past week, the CDC issued several guideline updates, including recommending mask-wearing in high-transmission areas and recommending schools mandate mask-wearing for vaccinated and unvaccinated people when classes return in the fall. A number of large corporations have also mandated COVID-19 vaccines as a condition of employment in recent days. The federal government has delivered unclear messaging around whether lockdowns …