Daily COVID-19 deaths are almost twice as high as last Labor Day and new infections are more than four times as high. The result: ⬇ Some U.S. hospitals are getting so crowded with COVID-19 patients that physicians may soon be compelled to make life-or-death decisions on who gets an ICU bed. Blame the highly contagious delta variant and a swath of Americans refusing easily accessible vaccines that most of the developing world is furiously scrambling to obtain. "You leave work at the end of the day just exhausted by the effort it takes to (dig) that compassion up for people who are not taking care of themselves and the people around them,” said Risa Moriarity, executive vice chair of the emergency department at University of Mississippi Medical Center.