An overwhelming surge of  COVID-19 cases is underway in the U.S. As the delta variant continues to spread, the lambda variant is showing up, and some people are refusing to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or wear face masks.

"My message today is a hospital term and that's Code Red," says Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. "It is Code Red in the U.S. and for the globe regarding these variants." Dr. Poland adds that the public has been thinking that the COVID-19 pandemic was over but nothing could be further from the truth. 

"You see article after article of people pleading for the vaccine, once they're intubated, or dying, or are begging their family to tell everybody, "We were wrong about this,'" says Dr. Poland. "People who were mocking vaccines and masks are now dead of COVID-19. It makes you feel beside yourself because you're watching a population-wide tragedy occurring, yet can't get the message across to people. How do you save the public from itself?"

Dr. Poland encourages people to consider these 5 tips to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:

In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Poland goes into detail about the latest COVID-19 research, back-to-school masking, air travel and explains why people who have already had COVID-19 still need to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.