Vaccine Mandates Are Coming to an Employer Near You
What to do about the U.S. vaccine uptake rate? Even with what appears to be a slight increase as people try to protect themselves against the more transmissible Delta variant now spreading through many parts of the country, only a pitiful 0.1% or so of Americans are currently getting their first dose every day. That's a far cry from the urgent scramble that Delta demands, especially given that only about half the country is fully vaccinated—and some places, like Louisiana (36.6%) and Arkansas (36%), are lagging woefully behind.
So far, the U.S. vaccination drive has largely relied on carrots—the idea has been to sell people on the notion that, when you’re vaccinated, you can more safely see loved ones, go out to eat, and so on. But it's become clear that about half of Americans don't feel they need to be vaccinated to enjoy those things. When the nationwide COVID-19 case numbers were ultra-low earlier this summer, that might have been a relatively low-risk choice, since when there's little virus circulating in a given area, unvaccinated people can essentially operate like free riders, benefitting from the community protection conferred by those who got their shots. But now, as the Delta variant fuels what could become a fourth wave , that free-riding behavior becomes a lot more dangerous, to the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.
It's time, then, to switch to the sticks—namely, vaccine mandates. Mandates are working wonders in France, where vaccination appointments skyrocketed after President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this month that only vaccinated people (or those with proof of a recent negative test) would be allowed to visit restaurants, cafes and more. At least some of those recently getting their shots probably did so only begrudgingly, and France has been rocked by protests since the mandate was announced—but all that really matters is that the country's uptake rate is increasing at a critical moment.
It's hard to imagine a nationwide vaccine mandate flying in the States, where we've never even come to a national consensus on things as simple as wearing a mask. But private and public employers largely can require workers to be vaccinated to come back into the office—and some already are. Just today, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all city workers must either get their shots by mid-September, or be tested for the virus weekly. That news comes a few days after Hizzoner urged private employers in the city to mandate the shots as well, framing them up as a pathway to freedom rather than an intrusive government requirement. “If people want freedom, if people want jobs, if people want to live again, we have got to get more people vaccinated and obviously, it’s time for whatever mandates we can achieve," de Blasio told WNYC's Brian Lehrer last Friday. (California announced similar rules for state employees and some health care workers today, while the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will likewise require many of its doctors, nurses and more to be inoculated.)
Employer-enforced vaccine mandates will no doubt prove controversial, but they are generally legal—last month, a federal judge threw out a workers' lawsuit over a Houston hospital's mandate, finding that such a requirement is allowed under Texas law. If employer vaccine mandates become the norm, there will no doubt be some who protest—but if such requirements can do anything to boost our tepid uptake rates and create safer workplaces, they will be worthwhile.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
About 395 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of yesterday afternoon, of which some 342 million doses had been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 49.1% of Americans had been completely vaccinated.
More than 194.1 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 4.1 million people have died. On July 25, there were 432,282 new cases and 6,611 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 3 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 34.4 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. Nearly 610,900 people have died. On July 25, there were 15,711 new cases and 56 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of July 26, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The idea of recommending that even vaccinated people wear masks is "under active consideration" among U.S. public health officials, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said yesterday on CNN's State of the Union. Fauci's comments follow criticism levied against the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for not adjusting its masking guidance—which holds that vaccinated people need not mask up in any circumstances—as the more transmissible Delta variant fuels a nationwide spike . Fauci added that he's "very frustrated" about the U.S. outbreak; the country, he said, is "going in the wrong direction."
The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics have gone to great lengths to try to keep athletes, media and other participants safe from the coronavirus, even as cases spike in the broader community. But even the steps they're taking—requiring everyone to mask up most of the time, for instance, and conducting aggressive testing and tracing after a case is confirmed—may not be enough to avoid an Olympic outbreak, my colleague Alice Park reports from the Games. One flaw in organizers' approach? Reporters are being bussed from event to event, potentially turning them into virus-spreaders.
A popular Tennessee conservative radio host who downplayed the risk of the virus and the need for vaccination has been hospitalized with COVID-19 and is in critical condition, the New York Times reports. Phil Valentine’s station, 99.7 WTN, released a statement yesterday saying that Valentine "regrets not being more vehemently 'pro-vaccine'" and that he "looks forward to being able to more vigorously advocate that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope will be soon." His turnaround on the shots mirrors that of other conservative politicians and pundits in recent days, many of whom are now urging their followers to get vaccinated.
Thailand is turning to volunteers to ease the immense burden being placed upon its medical corps caused by skyrocketing case numbers. The country is currently reporting a seven-day average of about 13,400 daily new cases, compared to about 5,000 at the beginning of July, the Associated Press reports. Only about 5% of Thai residents are fully vaccinated, making the country vulnerable to outbreaks—especially amid the rise of the Delta variant.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Alex Fitzpatrick and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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