Analysis: The conversation about vaccine mandates accompanies the resurgence of Covid

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It is starting a new debate about how far the government or employers should go to protect their citizens or employees and how far people should be free to make a wrong decision that endangers others.

In Florida, the rate of new Covid cases per 100,000 people exceeds three times the national rate of 16 new cases per 100,000 people.

Both Arkansas and Louisiana have higher rates, but with smaller populations, they contribute far fewer total cases than Florida, where more than 10,000 people tested positive each day for more than a week, three times as many as two weeks ago and a fourth of all new Covid cases in the entire US.

Hospitalizations there have tripled in July to over 6,000, testing hospital systems in a way not seen since spring.

Alix Zacharski, a nurse manager at ICU Covid at Miami Memorial Hospital in Miami, told CNN Monday that when patients enter their ICU asking for the vaccine, it’s too late.

“When they get to the ICU it’s when they can’t breathe and look for air. That’s when they get into the ICU and right now they’re in very bad shape,” he said.

How to get people to get the shot. The answer to the Covid problem, almost everyone, from doctors and health experts to Republican governors, seems to agree, is vaccination.

But there is an abyss in the country between those who want to incite or compel against those who want to seduce and persuade.

In New York, where the number of cases is rising like most in the country, but far from the massive rise in Florida, Gov. Bill de Blasio announced a new requirement for city workers – 340,000 employees: to get fired or start weekly Covid tests before September 13th. The city presents an app for users to keep vaccination and testing of test results.

In addition, city employees who are not vaccinated must be masked inside New York from August 2.

St. Louis imposed a new inner mask requirement for everyone 5 years of age or older, vaccinated or not, following a new similar requirement in Los Angeles. The difference is St. Louis may end up in a legal confrontation with the Republican Attorney General of the state.

As an action or something, New York City action allows you to choose between vaccines and testing, but the message is clear to those who make a living with city money: get the chance.

The city is already a success story regarding the vaccine: 59% of the population and 71% of adults have already been vaccinated, de Blasio said.

He urged private companies to impose their own version of a vaccine warrant and to demand masks for the unvaccinated, but will not try to demand it.

“My message to the private sector is: Go as far as you can right now. Do what you can do,” Blasio said.

For now, everything is voluntary. Who knows if that person in front of you without a maskless tail has the vaccine.

“I really wish there were more companies doing this,” said Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst, “because otherwise, it’s hard for us, for example, to be parents of unvaccinated children if we tells us that we have to go back to work in person and sit side by side with other people who are not vaccinated and we don’t know if they are taking Covid? It’s really dangerous for us, so it’s really about protecting health and safety of people. “

Many governments, employers, school districts and others may be waiting for the FDA to issue full approval for the vaccines, which are currently being given under emergency use authorization. While some policymakers and politicians are exasperated at the pace of the FDA, the agency is actually moving at a record speed.

Doing business against government mandates. There is certainly a stronger push in Arkansas and Alabama, states most affected by the Delta variant and with lower vaccination rates, for people who can do the right thing and protect themselves and others.

But the push stops at guilt.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey was a starter in saying so it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated not to do his part.

Guilt, yes. Required, no. His press secretary tweeted over the weekend that the governor cannot get anyone vaccinated. It is a person’s responsibility.

“Advice for the media that continues to push the idea of ​​more government mandates: wearing a mask will not defeat the virus.” Gina Maiola said on Twitter. “We have a vaccine that works, so start acting like him. The government can’t force you to take care of yourself.”
In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson openly blames low vaccination rates for the Covid spike in his state. He has been touring the state, encouraging people to get the shot, and him He told CNN’s Jake Tapper that encountering harsh opposition to the vaccine through a warrant would be counterproductive.

“We won’t, because even that would provoke a greater backlash against the government and this imposition on freedom,” Hutchinson said. He said the rate of vaccines in his state, a Covid epicenter, has risen recently.

Good news about vaccines. Although the number of vaccines in general has flattened in the United States, Harry Enten of CNN has narrowed the data and argued that there is some cause for optimism and vaccinations are rising in some key places.

“For me, that’s the most interesting thing,” he told CNN Monday. “Where do vaccinations increase? It’s in the states with the most new weekly cases. So take a look. Arkansas, Missouri, all but Florida, in the bottom half of most vaccinations. Look at the rankings of the last week … What we’re seeing is essentially the places where the number of cases is highest right now, that’s where the highest number of new vaccinations comes in. So people are scared. I go out and get vaccinated. ” It has the graphics and maps to support the plot of this video.

The requirement to vaccinate for health workers was promoted. Maybe a mandate wouldn’t work for the general public, but what about the people who work on Covid’s front line? More than 50 medical and health groups, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Public Health Association, issued a joint statement calling on all employers of health care mandate that employees be vaccinated against Covid-19.

“This is the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all health workers to put the first patients and residents of long-term care centers and take all necessary measures to ensure their health and well-being,” they wrote in the joint statement issued on Monday, according to the CNN report.

Countermeasures. Dr. Seema Yasmin, the author and former CDC disease detective, was asked about this requirement for health care workers during an appearance on CNN and argued against the idea, saying it is exactly the wrong time to disable people from health. care.

“Healthcare workers don’t differ much from the general population,” he said of his openness to vaccines. “There are a lot of health workers we need to keep working on health care. We don’t want to deprive them of rights.”

He also argued that contradictory messages about masking contribute to a general erosion of trust.

“I come back to this point that you can do at the local level what you have to do that is appropriate for your municipality, for your state, but beware of messaging. Because at a time when we are losing confidence in the public and the public it loses confidence in the scientific establishment, we generate more confusion, ”he said.

The French model. The French government has not imposed a strict vaccination warrant for all people, but has linked the status of the vaccine or a negative PCR test to a “health pass” and the privilege of eating indoors or going at a concert, and vaccination rates have risen. Healthcare workers must be vaccinated before September 15th. Other countries follow suit. CNN’s Stephen Collinson has a thoughtful explanation for why a “health pass,” already rejected by the Biden administration, would not work in the U.S. Read it here.
Why does Macron's Covid Pass happen?  would not fly to the US

Meanwhile, America is opening up more and more, with people traveling, concentrating inside and out, and even going to concerts.

Images of a sea of ​​people queuing for a Florida hip-hop festival, Dr. Erin Bromage, a comparative immunologist at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, told CNN that, in full publicity, she had also been at a concert over the weekend and had helped Dave Matthews Band try to hold a safe event.

“We are now moving to this stage where all those audiences are adults. They have had options to take how to protect themselves through the vaccine or they may not have the same risk profile,” he said.

The end result could be more masking inside – This is the issue facing school districts.

Dr. Harry Atallah, chief physician at Jackon Memorial, said a return to inner masking could be demanded to stop the Delta variant.

“There are things we know work that, right?” he told CNN. “We did this before … a lot of people were vaccinated. We had people wearing masks. We washed our hands. We distanced ourselves socially. We know these things work. I think it’s a good idea if we followed science and say probably “We should start masking ourselves again. This will help shorten or decrease the number of infections in the community. And finally, it will help us get out of this situation we are in right now.”

Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. general surgeon led by President Donald Trump, predicted a return to some restrictions while warning about the rise in Covid cases that “went out of control.”

“More mitigation is achieved. Whether it’s masking, if it’s closures, or if your kids need to go back to e-learning, that’s to come.” he told CBS.

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