New York is throwing a ticker-tape parade for the health care workers and others who helped the city get through the darkest days of COVID-19, while authorities in Missouri are struggling to beat back a surge blamed on the fast-spreading delta variant and deep resistance to getting vaccinated. The contrasting scenes could be a glimpse of what public health experts say may lie ahead for the U.S. in the coming months: continued progress against the coronavirus overall, but with local outbreaks in corners of the country with low vaccination rates. In Missouri, Springfield area has been hit so hard that one hospital had to borrow ventilators over the Fourth of July weekend and begged on social media for help from respiratory therapists.