Biden called the rise in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. a tragedy

U.S. President Joe Biden called the new wave of COVID “a preventable tragedy.”

“The experts tell us that this is a preventable tragedy and that the situation will get worse before it gets better,” Biden said, speaking at the White House.

“We have a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Biden said. He recalled that those vaccinated against the coronavirus rarely get sick with it and almost never go to the hospital.

Biden said there are 10 to 20 times more cases of coronavirus in states with low vaccination rates. “It’s like a firestorm among those who haven’t been vaccinated,” Biden said.

That said, he said, vaccination rates are up 55 percent in the past week, and the average daily vaccination rate is the highest in a month. “That’s an encouraging sign,” Biden said.

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. have been rising steadily for about a month, with a seven-day average of more than 85,000 cases per day.