dijo stephanie lÓpez, madre de eva de 11 meses, quien fue trasladada por falta de espacio en cuidadosnunciÓ un intensivo de 50 $ para las personas que tengan medicare y se vacunen. >> no me habÍa animado, pero veo que se estÁ poniendo feo. locutora: centros de vacunaciÓn regalan desde Útiles escolares, cupones para comida. locutor: la pandemia de coronavirus ha desbordado a los gobiernos, instituciones y organismos de salud. la variante delta y su fÁcil propagaciÓn es un reto aÚn mayor. guillermo gonzÁlez nos tiene respuestas. guillermo: ante el aumento de contagios de covid—19 atribuidos a la variante delta, algunos estudios en el reino unido sugieren que podrÍa existir la posibilidad de que sea necesaria una vacuna especÍfica para combatir esa variaciÓn del virus. que es necesario seguir de cerca el desarrollo de delta. >> nosotros tenemos que evaluar si estÁ funcionando o no. moderna, johnson y johnson, pfizer son las vacunas que mejor estÁn a nivel mundial. >> creo que es necesario tomar conciencia. es lo correcto y necesario para mejorar nuestra convivencia. locutor: los estudios

forcing worst case scenarios, like covid overflow tents in houston and pediatric units full as stephanie lopez watched crews fly her 11-month-old daughter eva to a hospital nearly 150 miles away. >> it was a very overwhelming, heartbreaking experience >> reporter: many states, including new jersey and arizona haven't reissued mask mandates, while in arkansas, the governor, amid a surge in cases, regretting a prior ban. >> it was an error to sign that law. i admit that. >> reporter: tonight experts warn the type of mask matters. >> the virus is being spread through aerosols and not droplets wearing a higher quality mask becomes more important. >> reporter: dr. gottlieb says n95 masks are safest, warning cloth masks provides just 20% protection a procedure mask offering 40% >> most people don't wear those masks well, don't fit them well. so they're not getting that measure of protection. >> reporter: for now the push to vaccinate. the pentagon announcing mandatory inoculations for nearly two million service members by mid-september. tonight, with covid numbers nearing critical mass -- >> it's li

and in the entire state of arkansas, just 8 bed loft as cobra cases for a stephanie lopez, it's 11 month old daughter, and texas had to be airlifted to find about 241 kilometers away. there was a very, very overwhelming, heartbreaking more and more the cases are involving kids nearly 94000 cases just last week. about 15 percent of the people getting sick. our children, 1st of all, were sort of doing more stuff and having more contacts and that includes kids. unfortunately, kids under the age of 12 can't be vaccinated yet. and that means that they are more likely to get that we're seeing larger numbers of infections and children and those larger numbers. and it's actually been a greater number of individuals going to be hospitalized. the worst outbreaks are and states with low vaccination rates like texas and florida, and their governors have decided right now. the biggest issue is masks ordering that people cannot be told to wear them. and here's what we can get into the efficacy of this me, it's an error. slides virus is a piece of cloth. going to start we can get into all that from an

in the city where one hospital had to transfer stephanie lopez's 11-month-old daughter ava. >> it's something that i wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. it's nothing i wouldn't want any other mother to go through. >> reporter: stephanie telling me she felt heartbroken and helpless as her infant was airlifted to a hospital 150 miles away alone because there were no available pediatric icu beds in houston. >> was there a point when you were thinking the worst? >> yeah, there was -- like whenever i got out the car and she wasn't responding to me, she was just unconscious. she wasn't breathing, my heart dropped. >> reporter: like ava, pediatric hospitalizations are up 3 1/2 times what they were a month ago. the rise in cases in children prompting new jersey to reverse course. governor phil murphy announcing they will require masking in schools. >> anyone telling you we can safely re-open our schools without requiring everyone inside to wear a mask is quite simply lying to you. >> reporter: experts pointing to the silver lining in the dark days of the delta variant surge they say still lies ahead. ri

. >> reporter: as stephanie lopez watched crews fly her 11-month-old daughter ava to a hospital 150 miless an error to sign that law, i admit that. >> the virus is being spread through aerosols and not droplets. >> reporter: n-95 masks are safest, warning cloth masks provide just 20% protection. a procedure mask providing 40%. >> most people don't wear those masks well, don't fit them well, so they're not getting that much protection. >> reporter: the pentagon announcing mandated inoculations for people in the service by october. doctors and medical workers already fighting burnouts now digging in for yet another surge. morgan chesky, nbc news, austin. >> focusing now on florida, the state with the highest number of children hospitalized with covid-19, nbc's kerry sanders has the latest. >> reporter: this is kerry sanders in florida where the covid crisis has gone from bad to worse, the florida department of health claiming 22,903 covid cases. >> it's overwhelming our staff. >> reporter: florida hospitals now report 179 pediatric patients. this is k-12 reopening in much of the states. in