COVID Vaccine Mandates Coming. Masks are back. - Doctor Mike Hansen
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) NEW Guidelines: Masks Are Back. And COVID Vaccine Mandates are coming. Why? 1) The Delta Variant 2) Too many unvaccinated
More than 339 million doses of Covid vaccine have been administered across the US. So far, about 2/3rds of eligible Americans have received the vaccine. Eleven states have yet to vaccinate at least 40% of their residents.
The Delta variant. It now makes up more than 80% of COVID cases in the US. Overall COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are going up. According to the data from the US Department of Health and Human services, hospitalizations have been increasing for about three weeks, rising about 37% over the past week. This is what happens when we don’t have enough people getting vaccinated, we fail to reach herd immunity. Now we have the more contagious, and scarier delta variant going around.
To prevent further spread of the Delta coronavirus variant, the CDC updated its mask guidance Today to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors if you’re in a region that has "substantial" or "high" transmission of Covid. Which is about 2/3rds if the country.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said "In recent days I have seen new scientific data from recent outbreak investigations showing that the Delta variant behaves uniquely differently from past strains of the virus that cause Covid-19. This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendations. This is not a decision that we or CDC has made lightly."
So this recommendation is based on new, yet to be published data -- showing that vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant can have as much virus in their nose as people who are unvaccinated. Overall, vaccinated people still play a small role in transmission, and breakthrough infections remain rare. Remember, the vaccine is great at preventing severe COVID. With these mRNA vaccines, they are 95% effective at preventing SEVERE covid. And with the delta variant, it’s slightly less than that, but pretty close.
The new guidance from the CDC also recommends that fully vaccinated people should be tested 3-5 days after a possible or known exposure, and to continue to wear a mask when in indoor public settings for the next 14 days or until a negative test result.
Also, all people at a school, like staff, teachers, students and visitors -- should all wear a mask, regardless of vaccinations status. And the new mask guidance is frustrating because if everyone got the vaccine, we wouldn’t be in this situation. And that’s why the vaccine mandates are coming. Americans who refuse vaccinations are endangering not only themselves, but those who can't get the vaccine, like children. And also endangering some people who did get the vaccine, like the 9 million Americans who are immunocompromised. For some immunocompromised people, blood tests show that the vaccine does not mount an antibody response against the virus. That’s sometimes what happens when people take medicine to suppress their immune system – for example when someone is undergoing chemotherapy, or if they had a kidney transplant.
This week there was a study just published by Johns Hopkins researchers which found that vaccinated immunocompromised people are almost 500 times more likely to be hospitalized or die of Covid compared to non-immunocomprimised people who’ve been vaccinated.
The hope was that herd immunity would protect them. Doesn’t look like that’s happening. So COVID vaccine mandates are coming. More than 50 health and medical 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 for all health care and long-term care employers to mandate employees be vaccinated.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced also said it will require many of its frontline health workers to be vaccinated. Other organizations are mandating it too. Bill de Blasio announced that employees of all NYC public hospitals and health clinics will be required to get vaccinated or otherwise get regularly tested. California will require all state employees and healthcare workers to provide proof of vaccination status or get regular tests.
President Biden will announce this Thursday a requirement that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated against Covid-19, or be required to submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements. The vaccines have received EUA, but are yet to receive full FDA approval, because it takes time. But you can expect that to happen by the fall. Based on the trials and real world data so far, we know that the vaccines are overall very safe. Once there is full FDA approval, expect mass mandates throughout the country.
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Another child died from delta in MS today. 
And why allow people the option to be tested instead of requiring vaccines? 
The local paper reported that Warren County now leads the state in positive tests - no big surprise since they canceled the year-plus mask mandate just in time for the Delta variant which coincides with tourist season! Today I saw license plates from Ontario (for the first time in over a year!) and Alabama! The thing is, it's going to be really tough to put the genie back in the bottle! 
But we knew it was coming, given other countries' explosive delta #s.
And I was bummed out to learn that the largest local vaccination site, the one in the old Sears store in the local mall, is shutting down at the end of the month! When I took my brother there to get his second shot in May, I noticed teens with Moms there getting the Pfizer - and since it's not far from the school, I was hoping that more kids would be getting vaccinated in time for the return to school in September! We've had several outbreaks in local schools over the past year - and that was before Delta. 
Maybe vax demand has dropped off?
Memphis had a FEMA site, but it closed several weeks early because there just wasn't enough demand.
And the overflow hospital the Army Corps of Engineers built out last year closed much earlier than originally planned.
There were lines. The guy cleaning chairs in the 15-minute waiting area said they'd been very busy since the start. And there were still a lot of people - all ages - coming and going - when I took my brother back for shot #2 three weeks later. It was sure a lot busier than the pharmacy where I went back in March.
Though there are still numerous pharmacies in the area offering the vaccine, this one at the mall is conveniently located and they also take walk-ins, so I'm bummed it's shutting down. 35% of the county is unvaccinated at this late date - and the kids over 12 need to get vaccinated by the beginning of September before they go back to school. 
Absolutely 12+ kids need vaxes before school!
Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart and the pharmacies in the grocery stores are still offering the vaccine, I just don't think it's as convenient. And kids like going to the mall. 
That's a great point that kids like going to the mall! Too bad it is closing. 😏
Though because of the pandemic, a lot of stores aren't open late. I went into one store shortly before 7 and the lady there warned me they were closing in 5 minutes.
Still a shame it's closing imo.