An ambulance arrives at the emergency department at AdventHealth hospital in Orlando in late July. Florida is one of several states seeing disappearing hospital capacity as COVID-19 cases surge.

Paul Hennessy /SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Arkansas set a record for hospitalizations, while officials in one Florida county are urging residents to "consider other options" before calling 911. Health officials in Mississippi said the state's hospital system could collapse in five to 10 days if the current trajectory continues.

Current vaccines protect against severe disease, hospitalization and death — and institutions across the country are strengthening their vaccine requirements and guidance.

For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now strongly urging all pregnant people get vaccinated. The Food and Drug Administration could decide this week whether to extend its emergency use authorization to booster shots for immunocompromised people, a move that Dr. Anthony Fauci described to NPR's Morning Edition as "imminent."

More places are now requiring vaccinations, or penalizing people who don't get the shot. The Defense Department is moving to require vaccines for service members, and the Department of Health and Human Services is ordering them for its thousands of health care workers. Plus, some small colleges say they will charge unvaccinated students an extra fee.

With different rules and regulations in place in every state, the fight to control COVID-19 looks a little different depending on where you live.