The cover of Friday’s USA Today says it all: “We Are Failing One Another.”
The newspaper adds “This is America’s fourth COVID-19 surge. It didn’t have to happen.”
New COVID-19 cases are up 119% in the last 14 days even though the vast majority of Americans 12 and older are eligible for one of the three vaccines that have been proven to be safe and effective. The vaccines are free, but so is the flow of misinformation regarding their side effects. Millions of Americans have been duped into believing they cause infertility, long lasting health problems, and are a secret ploy to track people via a microscopic computer chip.
Others among the vaccine hesitant are awaiting final FDA approval; the vaccines were initially deployed via an authorization for emergency use after months of large-scale clinical trials. Many in the scientific community view final approval as a mere formality.
While not all vaccine holdouts believe in misinformation, they’re all at risk.
According to multiple reports, 90% of all hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. The front page of USA Today displays a CDC map indicating where COVID-19 outbreaks are most severe. The clear correlation between places with a high number of infections and low vaccination rates is finally persuading some of the vaccine hesitant; jabs are on the rise in recent days.
But the country’s vaccination rate still falls short of goals set by public health officials. And as COVID-19 circulates among those who have failed to comply with public health advice, even the inoculated are at risk. New variations of the virus might one day elude the protection provided by the existing vaccines. Indeed, the highly transmissible delta virus has already led to a sharp rise in breakthrough cases and children, initially spared the worst effects of the disease that has killed over 600,000 Americans, are becoming increasing sick.
As the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths tick up, many employers are mandating vaccinations. On Friday, CNBC reported that United Airlines will requires its 67,000 employees to be vaccinated by the end of October. Facebook, Google, and Tyson Foods are among the companies that have followed a similar course. Other blue-chip organizations, like Walmart and Walgreens, are requiring certain portions of their workforce to get jabbed.
In the political realm, vaccines and mask wearing are the subject of an intense partisan divide. Many Republican leaders, including Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, and Gregg Abbott, the governor of Texas, have delivered murky messages on COVID-19 mitigation. Both men have stressed personal choice rather than societal responsibility.
Their states are now deep red – not just politically, but also on the CDC map where the redder the shade, the higher the rate of infection. Texas and Florida lead the nation in new hospitalizations. Their hospitals are running out of beds.