The situation was dire enough this past week that one longtime Democratic operative said Biden should consider issuing a formal address to the nation to more clearly lay out where the fight against the pandemic stands.

“Things are confusing right now,” said longtime party official Simon Rosenberg. “There is rancor and frustration in the air. School reopenings are going to be hard.”

Inside the administration, the emergence of the Delta variant has caused friction, leading to behind-the-scenes finger-pointing and weeks-long tensions between the CDC and the White House. Two senior Biden officials familiar with the matter said the administration is still trying to balance messaging in a way that underscores the severity of the Delta variant while simultaneously reiterating that vaccinated individuals are overwhelmingly not at risk.

“We thought we were going to move past this,” one senior administration official said. “It’s just like, here we go again.”