With coronavirus cases rising among the unvaccinated and efforts to get them shots lagging, there is a growing belief in some public health circles that more aggressive tactics are needed to get more of the population inoculated.
California has already tried prizes and game show-style events to encourage people to get vaccinated. But 41% of Californians of all ages have yet to be inoculated. And two troubling and related trends are bringing calls for fresh thinking.
The coronavirus is spreading in California — mostly among unvaccinated people. While cases and hospitalizations are still more than 93% lower than they were at the peak, new daily coronavirus cases have nearly tripled over the last month, from about 900 a day to more than 2,600 a day; hospitalizations have risen by nearly 75%, from 915 to 1,594. CONTINUE
Meanwhile, White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci drew criticism Tuesday after saying children as young as 3 years old should continue to wear masks to protect against the coronavirus.
Asked by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about the spread of the Delta variant of the virus and what that means for unvaccinated minors, Fauci said they and their parents should follow federal health advice. In its guidelines for safely opening K-12 schools in the fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says “masks should be worn indoors by all individuals (age 2 and older) who are not fully vaccinated.”
“Unvaccinated children of a certain age greater than two years old should be wearing masks,” Fauci said. “No doubt about that. That’s the way to protect them from getting infected because if they do, they can then spread the infection to someone else.” CONTINUE
