You may have seen the very scary headlines this weekend about the COVID-19 Delta variant. One of those was out of Florida, which hit the highest number of new COVID cases since the pandemic began. And last Wednesday Texas reported more than 10,000 new COVID cases, its highest total for a single day since February. In D.C., the indoor mask mandate for those vaccinated went back into effect, as it did for many other parts of the country.

• Plus, the Biden administration’s messy COVID messaging.
• And, why the pandemic means less long-distance romance.

Guests: Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News' Chief Washington Correspondent and host of What the Health podcast, and Axios' Erica Pandey.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Alex Sugiura, and Michael Hanf. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Go deeper:

• Fauci: New lockdowns unlikely despite surge in Delta cases
• Biden's quick-trigger COVID problem
• The end of long-distance relationships