(WASHINGTON, DC) Today, with end of the Districts public health emergency approaching on Sunday, July 25, Mayor Muriel Bowser and DC Health, led by Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, released the District of Columbia COVID-19 Pandemic Health and Healthcare Pandemic Recovery Report, a framework for the recovery and development of the Districts health ecosystem.
Since the earliest days of this pandemic, our community has worked together to protect each other and crush the virus. Now, we have the opportunity to build a new and better normal and attack longstanding disparities in health outcomes, said Mayor Bowser. As we recover strong, lets keep working together to build a healthier, more equitable DC.
With a focus on equity, the report provides an assessment of the Districts current and emerging health needs while offering solutions for improving DCs health system in five domains: workforce, healthcare facilities, health information technology, health planning, and community health services.
The challenges, experiences and disparate outcomes of the pandemic in the District, has, if nothing else, underscored the necessity to apply an equity informed, structural analysis to our work going forward, said Dr. LaQuandra S. Nesbitt, Director, DC Health. DC Health, as the citys chief health strategist, is utilizing this framework in an effort to not return to the pre-pandemic normal, but to apply lessons that we are continuing to learn and increase public health capacity to meet our vision of DC being the healthiest city in America.
District residents and families, like many across the nation, have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency and continue to face long-lasting effects. The report addresses potential population health concerns as a result of the pandemic, including delayed and preventative and chronic disease care; long-term effects of COVID-19 infection; economic impact and job loss; mental health stress, social isolation, trauma, and grief; and loss of academic, social, and emotional growth in children.
Many policies, procedures, and operations of the healthcare system were altered and continue to be altered to address the rapid surge and magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, there was a necessary shift to the use of virtual environments for health systems planning and how people access care through telehealth, assisted telehealth, or home-based models. The plan emphasizes that the healthcare ecosystem should continue to embrace these changes to deliver care to District residents when, where, and how they want to receive it. Other recommendations include addressing health literacy among District residents in a more substantial way; engaging in strategic partnerships that accelerate public health priorities; and integrating disparate health data systems to keep a pulse on various public health indicators in the District.
Read the full report at dchealth.dc.gov/page/covid-19-pandemic-health-and-heathcare-recovery-report
Pottstown-area school and health officials are working to inform parents what they should do to help make the return to in-person learning as safe as possible.
POTTSTOWN As COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation complicate planning for a return to in-person learning next month, an online town hall Thursday aimed to clear the air and let parents know what they need to know.
Hosted by former Pottstown schools superintendent Jeff Sparagana, who is also a board member of the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, the informational session featured three experts to answer questions, outline health impacts and protocols in place for schools, child care and early learning centers.
The panelists were:
As most parents with children in school know, numerous vaccines, including chickenpox, meningitis, measles, mumps, rubella and polio are all required for children to register for school.
However, a COVID-19 vaccine is not required, although it is strongly recommended for children 12 and older. Only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for children 12 to 18 and a parent or guardian must be present for it to be administered to that age group, said Spengler.
Sarah Spengler
A vaccine for children under 12 is not available yet but is being researched. It should be available once the study of kids ages 6 to 12 is completed, likely in early to mid-winter months, Spengler said.
Responding to a question about vaccine side-effects and long-term effects, Spengler said "the vast majority of vaccine side effects occur in the first 24 to 48 hours. This gives experts reassurance, if we were going to see side effects or complications, we would have seen it by now."
Spengler added, "a lot of experts are saying you have two choices. You get the vaccine or get the disease in the next couple of years." It's safer to get the vaccine, she said, given that the long-term impacts of having COVID-19 are not being documented.
Information on vaccines posted at the end of Thursday's Town Hall meeting.
Vaccines can be administered during a regular well-visit with your health care provider, at Community Health and Dental in the Coventry Mall, and, for those in seventh grade and older, at the CVS in Collegeville, Spengler said.
"This is most definitely the best time for parents to schedule an appointment for children to get the vaccine if they are 12 or older," because a second dose is required three weeks later, said Sparagana. "Then they'll be ready for school."
"The more things we do to mitigate the virus in the community, the better off the schools will be," Spengler said.
"How we choose to mitigate this virus has an impact in our schools," Spengler said. "So how we respond as adults will determine" if schools stay open.
That includes adults getting vaccinated, particularly now that the much more contagious "delta variant" of the virus is on the rise, she said.
"The delta variant in COVID-19 is in Montgomery County. It's here," said Spengler.
She could not yet say if any students have had it, "but we do know that schools mimic our community. If it's here, it's likely circulating among the kids as well."
It is too soon to say, Perry-Malloy said, if the rise of the delta variant will result in yet another shut-down of schools.
"As of now, everything is changing on a daily basis," she said.
Kathleen Seeley
"We need to do all that we can to make sure everyone's ready, and if children older than 12, that they get vaccinated," Sparagana said.
In daycare and early education centers, where all children are too young to be vaccinated, the focus has been on re-thinking how children are grouped together at meals, wearing masks and lots, and lots of hand-washing, said Seeley.
Experts are strongly urging that children 2 to 6 years old wear masks while in child care or at an early learning center. "Data from the CDC supports the use of masks," she said.
Hundreds of people lined up outside Pottstown Middle School in March to get COVID-19 vaccine shots.
"It's amazing to see how mask-wearing and all the things we've talked about has reduced illness at early childhood centers," Seeley said.
That said, Seeley also noted that most early childhood centers are trying to reduce mask-wearing requirements by taking other measures to ensure safety.
"We're really looking for ways for children not to be masked," she said, noting they don't wear masks outside. "We've found lots of ways to keep children at a safe distance so they do not have to wear masks."
As for older children, Sparagana said that the CDC has indicated that students who have been vaccinated do not need to wear a mask in school unless they are on a school bus.
However, Perry-Malloy added that the schools will follow the guidance issued by the Montgomery County Health Department regarding masks, so it may change if cases continue to rise.
Kimberly Perry-Malloy
And while teachers in the Pottstown School District are not required to be vaccinated, most of them already are, Perry-Malloy said.
Also, once school starts, parents can sign up to have "assurance testing" conducted once a week on their child, as a way to detect any spread of the virus.
If a child or teacher in a particular classroom is found to have COVID-19, that person must quarantine, but the entire classroom will not be quarantined, she said.
Only those who have been in close contact with the infected person will be required to quarantine. An email will be sent home to parents with children in that classroom, but not to the whole school, said Perry-Malloy.
Spengler said children who contract the disease, "usually get a mild form of the illness, but not the case for every child. Some get MISC complications, which is a multi-inflammatory condition.
Jeff Sparagana is the former superintendent in the Pottstown School District.
Some children, although extremely rare, get "long-haul" impacts, like memory loss, from COVID-19, she said.
And it's important to remember, Sparagana said, that prevention is about more than the individual, who may only have mild affects, but about preventing the spread, especially to those more vulnerable.
"We're all in this together," Sparagana said.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Friday 7,983 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, including 47 additional deaths since last Friday.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 73% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 58% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated.
IDPH is reporting a total of 1,407,929 cases, including 23,401 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois.
Since reporting on Friday, July 16, laboratories have reported 241,150 specimens for a total of 26,534,129.
As of Thursday night, 670 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19.Of those, 135 patients were in the ICU and 44 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from July 16-22, 2021 is 3.3%.The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from July 16-22, 2021 is 3.5%.
A total of 13,056,857 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight.
The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 19,928 doses. Since reporting on Friday, July 16, 2021, 139,495 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) More than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Tennessee residents who are fully vaccinated, the state said Friday.
During a news briefing, Dr. Lisa Piercey, the Commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health, discussed the breakthrough cases and revealed 195 of those fully vaccinated residents who tested positive for the virus had been hospitalized.
She added 27 of the patients had died.
The Tennessee Department of Healths website shows 2,642,285 people in the state are fully vaccinated.
Dr. Piercey said 25% of the breakthrough cases are asymptomatic with 50% in people 60 and older.
The state of Tennessee has experienced a more than 200% increase in overall COVID-19 cases since July 1, averaging more than 700 new cases per day over the last week, according to the health commissioner.
Dr. Piercey added the state, at one point recently, had less than 200 virus patients hospitalized, but the number is now well over 500.
|Have breaking news come to youSubscribe to News 2 email alerts
We havent seen an uptick yet in deaths. Unfortunately, that will probably come in the next few weeks, she said. It takes a few weeks after somebody gets sick and then in the hospital, if they are going to pass away, that would come a few weeks later.
The Delta variant of the virus is the predominant variant in Tennessee, making up a majority of the states infections, according to Dr. Piercey.
It is here in Tennessee and it is widespread, she explained.
The states health commissioner added that almost all of the hospitalizations and deaths among Tennesseans are still among the unvaccinated.
Dr. Piercey said 97% of all hospitalizations and more than 98% of deaths are residents who have not received the vaccine.
When the opening ceremony gets underway on Friday, it will put an end to months of speculation over whether the Olympics would be even able to go ahead, as well as prompting further questions about how Covid-19 could shape the weeks to come.
Tokyo 2020 will host about 11,000 athletes -- representing more than 200 countries -- and they will be staying in 21 residential buildings.
However, not all of these athletes will be in Tokyo for the whole duration of the Games. Organizers say athletes will be expected to arrive in the Olympic Village five days prior to their competition and depart a maximum of two days after.
Even so that presents a significant logistical headache for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the local organizing committee.
Added to that is the longstanding resistance to staging the Olympics among the Japanese public.
"Their main concern is Covid-19, but there is also an increasing frustration and anger towards the attitudes and glaring disrespect to people's lives here by the IOC, the Japanese government, and the organizing committee."
When contacted by CNN Sport, the IOC referenced president Thomas Bach's comments at a press conference in Tokyo last Saturday: "Even in Japan, there was never 100% support of the Olympics Games ... this is part of democracy, you will always have different opinions," said Bach.
He later added that he wanted to give the public confidence in the organizers' "strict Covid measures."
The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee told CNN Sport that the Games will be "especially meaningful as a message of solidarity and coexistence."
"The world is facing unprecedented challenges including Covid-19," it said. "This is an opportunity to show the world the approaches that the city of Tokyo and the nation of Japan have taken to solving these problems."
'If you can't execute the plan, then the plan is no good'
Thursday saw Tokyo record 1,979 new Covid cases, the highest since January 15, and as of Thursday, there have so far been 91 positive cases linked to the Games as those arriving in Tokyo undergo a rigorous testing program.
"The frequent testing is going to mean that we're going to continue to see cases as they emerge, which is the way the system should work," Tara Kirk Sell, a former Olympic swimmer for the USA and now assistant at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tells CNN Sport of organizers' plans to contain the virus.
"The real question that remains is: will these measures be put in place in a way that makes them work? It's all about implementation. If you can't execute the plan, then the plan is no good."
Earlier in July, a decision was made not to have spectators at venues in Tokyo and several other prefectures, while 85% of athletes participating have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
A whole host of countermeasures have been put in place, such as rules around mask wearing, personal hygiene, social distancing in and around venues and the Olympic Village -- where most of athletes are accommodated -- and an app to log the health status of attendees.
Athletes have strict arrival and departure dates around their events and can only leave the village to go to Games venues and other limited locations. Media commitments have also been reduced.
But public concerns remain.
Some athletes are also having to come to terms with the devastating news of a positive test, either before or after arriving for the Games.
"I am heartbroken ... my Olympic journey ends here," Dutch skateboarder Candy Jacobs wrote on Instagram this week after testing positive in Tokyo. "I am feeling healthy and have done everything in my power to prevent this scenario and took all the precautions."
'Virtual cheering'
For athletes competing, the Games will clearly have a very different complexion compared to others, most prominently because of the absence of fans.
Skateboarding, karate, sport climbing and surfing have all been newly added to the Olympic program in Tokyo, while baseball and softball are returning.
The absence of spectators, which will be the case at 97% of competitions, is an unprecedented occurrence at the Olympics, with "virtual cheering" and a screen for fans to send in selfies and messages being used instead.
Athletes will have grown used to Covid-19 countermeasures like repeated testing and venues without fans, both of which have been in place at sporting events throughout the pandemic. The circumstances are likely to affect all competitors differently.
"The thing for athletes is really to try to stick to your routine and stick to your process," says Sell, who won a silver in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay at the 2004 Olympics.
"I think that there will be things that may throw people off. Not having a crowd is going to be strange for a lot of people, but for others, it may just be a lack of distraction and being able to focus more closely on their event. We'll have to see how it works out."
Some sports, including baseball, softball, football and shooting, have taken place in advance of Friday, the day of the opening ceremony.
After that, events come thick and fast. For the next 16 days, it will be down to the athletes to try to bring light to what has been a troubled Olympics with a complicated and protracted buildup.
NEW DELHIThe true tally of Covid-19 deaths in India following a devastating spring surge is likely close to 10 times higher than the countrys official count, marking the pandemic as one of the worst tragedies to ever hit the South Asian nation, according to a new study.
India has officially recorded more than 414,000 coronavirus deaths, but scientists and researchers have said that number undercounts the real toll. When Indias cases peaked in April and May, hospitals across the country were forced to turn away patients who later died at home, often untested.
The study pegged excess deathsor the number of people who died beyond what is normally expectedat between 3.4 million and 4.7 million from January 2020 to June 2021, according to the report released Tuesday from Arvind Subramanian, a former chief economic adviser for the Indian government, and researchers at the Center for Global Development and Harvard University.
One estimate in the study pegged Covid-19 deaths at about four million, roughly 10 times the official count. True deaths are likely to be in the several millions, not hundreds of thousands, making this arguably Indias worst human tragedy since partition and independence, the report said.
The study was based on three data sources: deaths from several states logged into the countrys civil registration system, blood tests that show antibodies for the virus in India along with fatality rates in other countries, and a nationwide household survey that is conducted three times a year.
At first glance, this rings very serious alarm bells, but it shouldnt. The vaccines are still working very well.
There are several factors at play that explain why such a high proportion of cases are in the fully vaccinated.
COVID vaccines are extremely effective, but none 100 per cent so. This itself isnt surprising flu vaccines arent 100 per cent effective either.
Yet in the US alone flu vaccines are estimated to prevent millions of cases of illness, tens of thousands of hospitalisations and thousands of deaths every year. The COVID vaccines are doing the same in the UK right now all one has to do is compare the curves from the winter wave with those from this summer.
As cases are rising, hospitalisations and deaths are rising too, but not at anywhere near the same level as they were in the winter. In the second half of December 2020 a time when UK case rates were similar to what they are now about 3,800 people were being admitted to hospital with COVID each day.
The average now is around 700. So though thats still higher than we wish it was, its a lot lower than it was the last time we had this many infections.
COVID is also growing among the vaccinated because the number of people in the UK who have had both doses is continuing to rise. At the time of writing, 88 per cent of UK adults have had a first dose and 69 per cent a second. As more and more of the population is vaccinated, the relative proportion of those with COVID who have had both jabs will rise.
If you imagine a hypothetical scenario in which 100 per cent of the population is double vaccinated, then 100 per cent of people with COVID, and in hospital with COVID, will also have had both jabs. As with deaths, this doesnt mean the vaccine isnt working. It just means the vaccine rollout is going very well.
We also need to remember that the vaccine rollout in the UK has systematically targeted people at the highest risk from COVID.
Older people and people with health conditions that make them more vulnerable were the first to get vaccinated. Once vaccinated, these people (including me) are at much lower risk from COVID than they would have been otherwise but they are still at risk.
That means that when we compare people with both vaccinations being hospitalised to those who havent had both doses, we arent comparing like with like. People with both vaccinations are more likely to have been at greater risk from COVID in the first place. This makes them both more likely to be hospitalised and more likely to have already received both of their vaccine doses.
Is COVID different in the vaccinated?
The latest data from Public Health England suggests that against the delta variant, which is now dominant in UK, two doses of any of the vaccines available in Britain are estimated to offer 79 per cent protection against symptomatic COVID and 96 per cent protection against hospitalisation.
We dont have clear estimates yet from Public Health England on the level of protection against death caused by the delta variant fortunately, this is partly driven by the fact deaths have been relatively low during this third wave in the UK.
But for the alpha variant, Public Health England data estimates the Pfizer vaccine to be between 95 per cent and 99 per cent effective at preventing death from COVID-19, with the AstraZeneca vaccine estimated to be between 75 per cent and 99 per cent effective. The evidence we have so far doesnt suggest that the delta variant substantially changes this picture.
Theres lots we still need to learn about how people with both vaccine doses respond to getting infected with the virus. The UKs COVID Symptom Study is looking at this.
One of the key questions that remain is who is at most risk. Emerging data released in a preprint, so yet to be reviewed by other scientists suggests people who are overweight or obese, poorer people, and people with health conditions causing frailty seem to be more likely to get infected after having both jabs.
The preprint also suggests that age itself doesnt seem to affect chances of developing COVID after being vaccinated, nor does having a long-term condition such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease but we need more data on this to be sure of these findings.
Generally, the COVID Symptom Study has found that people report the same COVID symptoms whether or not theyve been vaccinated, but that people whove been vaccinated have fewer symptoms over a shorter period of time, suggesting less serious illness. The most commonly reported symptoms in people who had had both doses were headache, runny nose, sneezing, sore throat and loss of smell.
By Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, Senior Research Fellow, Departmental Lecturer and Director of Evidence-Based Healthcare DPhil Programme, Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, University of Oxford
Subscribe to Mint Newsletters
* Enter a valid email
* Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!
The NFL has a new rule for 2021: Get vaccinated or get bent.
The NFL dealt with some COVID issues in 2020, which saw several games rescheduled, but none canceled.This year, the league wants to put abit more onus on players who refuse to get the coronavirus vaccine heading into 2021.
The NFL announced on Thursdaythat should a team deal with a coronavirus breakout stemming from unvaccinated players, and if the game cannot be rescheduled within the 18-week season, that team will forfeit the gameand cause more issues for both teams involved.
"We do not anticipate adding a '19th week' to accommodate games that cannot be rescheduled within the current 18 weeks of the regular season," the NFL saidin thememo.
Also noteworthy is the fact that both the teams not just the team thatcauses the outbreak involved in the canceledmatchup will lose game checks. The team will be handed a forfeit loss, while the opposing team will be handed a victory that counts towardthe playoffs.
The new league mandates reinforce the league's firm stance on wanting its players to get vaccinated heading into the 2021 season as the coronavirus (and now the Delta variant) continues to make its way through the country's population.
The NFL cites the CDC and vaccination data as proof of the effectiveness of the vaccine across the country, with hospital rates and deaths among the vaccinated population dramatically decreasing.
While vaccination rates for all 32 NFL teams aren't made public, the Colts and Washington Football Team reportedly have two of the lowest rates in the league, with percentages under 50.
Washington defensive lineman Montez Sweat has vocally opposed the vaccination in recent months, despite the team bringing in vaccination experts to explain the benefits of the jab.
Teams that reach 85 percent vaccination rates are allowed more freedom in team facilities, among other benefits.
MISSION, Kan. (AP) COVID-19 cases nearly tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray.
Our staff, they are frustrated, said Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital that is canceling elective surgeries and procedures after the number of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 inpatients at its two campuses jumped to 134, up from a low of 16 in mid-May.
They are tired. They are thinking this is dj vu all over again, and there is some anger because we know that this is a largely preventable situation, and people are not taking advantage of the vaccine.
Across the U.S., the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases rose over the past two weeks to more than 37,000 on Tuesday, up from less than 13,700 on July 6, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Health officials blame the delta variant and slowing vaccination rates. Just 56.2% of Americans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Louisiana, health officials reported 5,388 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday the third-highest daily count since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. Hospitalizations for the disease rose to 844 statewide, up more than 600 since mid-June. New Orleans leaders urged people to resume wearing masks indoors.
Utah reported having 295 people hospitalized due to the virus, the highest number since February. The state has averaged about 622 confirmed cases per day over the last week, about triple the infection rate at its lowest point in early June. Health data shows the surge is almost entirely connected to unvaccinated people.
It is like seeing the car wreck before it happens, said Dr. James Williams, a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at Texas Tech, who has recently started treating more COVID-19 patients. None of us want to go through this again.
He said the patients are younger many in their 20s, 30s and 40s and overwhelmingly unvaccinated.
As lead pastor of one of Missouris largest churches, Jeremy Johnson has heard the reasons congregants dont want the COVID-19 vaccine. He wants them to know its not only OK to get vaccinated, its what the Bible urges.
I think there is a big influence of fear, said Johnson, whose Springfield-based church also has a campus in Nixa and another about to open in Republic. A fear of trusting something apart from scripture, a fear of trusting something apart from a political party theyre more comfortable following. A fear of trusting in science. We hear that: I trust in God, not science. But the truth is science and God are not something you have to choose between.
Now many churches in southwestern Missouri, like Johnsons Assembly of God-affiliated North Point Church, are hosting vaccination clinics. Meanwhile, about 200 church leaders have signed onto a statement urging Christians to get vaccinated, and on Wednesday announced a follow-up public service campaign.
Opposition to vaccination is especially strong among white evangelical Protestants, who make up more than one-third of Missouris residents, according to a 2019 report by the Pew Research Center.
We found that the faith community is very influential, very trusted, and to me that is one of the answers as to how you get your vaccination rates up, said Ken McClure, mayor of Springfield.
The two hospitals in his city are teeming with patients, reaching record and near-record pandemic highs. Steve Edwards, who is the CEO of CoxHealth in Springfield, tweeted that the hospital has brought in 175 traveling nurses and has 46 more scheduled to arrive by Monday.
Grateful for the help, wrote Edwards, who previously tweeted that anyone spreading misinformation about the vaccine should shut up.
Jacob Burmood, a 40-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, artist, said his mother has been promoting vaccine conspiracy theories even though her husband Burmoods stepfather is hospitalized on a ventilator in Springfield.
It is really, really sad, and it is really frustrating, he said.
Burmood recalled how his mother had recently fallen ill and was trying to tell me that vaccinated people got her sick, and it wasnt even COVID. I just shut her down. I said, Mom, I cant talk to you about conspiracy theories right now. ... You need to go to a hospital. You are going to die.
His mother, who is in her 70s, has since recovered.
In New York City, workers in city-run hospitals and health clinics will be required to get vaccinated or get tested weekly as officials battle a rise in COVID-19 cases, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.
De Blasios order will not apply to teachers, police officers and other city employees, but its part of the citys intense focus on vaccinations amid an increase in delta variant infections.
The number of vaccine doses being given out daily in the city has dropped to less than 18,000, down from a peak of more than 100,000 in early April. About 65% of all adults are fully vaccinated, compared with about 60% of public hospital system staffers, said system leader Dr. Mitchell Katz.
Meanwhile, caseloads have been rising in the city for weeks, and health officials say the variant makes up about 7 in 10 cases they sequence.
We have got to deal with it aggressively. And in the end, there is also a thing called personal responsibility, de Blasio said, urging inoculated people to raise the issue with unvaccinated relatives and get up in their face.
Back in Louisiana, New Orleans officials issued the new guidance on indoor masks, hoping to avoid the kind of virus-related shutdowns that devastated the citys tourism economy in 2020. Mayor LaToya Cantrell stopped short of requiring masks. She said the advisory puts the responsibility on individuals themselves.
The announcement came as the citys seven-day average of new cases rose to 117, the highest level since early February. It had fallen as low as eight in mid-June.
___
Salter reported from St. Louis.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks to the crowd during the first round of the NFL football draft, ... [+] Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Cleveland. He is seen wearing a sticker that says "Covid-19 Vaccinated." (AP Photo/Steve Luciano)
By Arthur L. Caplan & Lee H. Igel
The NFL wants its teams to play a full slate of games in the 2021 season. One way to do that is by making sure as many players as possible get their doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. To help in that effort, the league is going long on a new policy that could put a crimp on teams' chances for success on the field if players dont vaccinate.
Last year, in the midst of the pandemic, the league implemented a coronavirus health and safety policy that allowed a season to be played all the way through Super Bowl LV. Schedules were crammed to fit postponements. Teams played with weakened lineupsin one case, the Denver Broncos took the field with no quarterbacks at all.
The league relied on education and persuasion to get vaccines into arms. Not this season. If someone goes unvaccinated and causes an outbreak, there will be financial hell to pay.
In a recent memo sent by Commissioner Roger Goodell to all of its clubs, the NFL announced that any game cancelled because of a coronavirus outbreak among a team's unvaccinated players will result in a forfeit. That will count as a loss in the team's record. In addition, players from both teams will not be receiving their weekly paychecks for missing the game. Any lost revenue will be the responsibility of the team forced to forfeit.
That's not all. The memo reminds that each club is obligated under the [league] Constitution and Bylaws to have its team ready to play at the scheduled time and place. A failure to do so is deemed conduct detrimental. There is no right to postpone a game. It also stipulates that there will be no rescheduling of games nor an extension of the 18 week-long season to do makeups.
All 32 NFL teams have at least 50 percent of their players vaccinated so far. As of one week ago, 13 teams were at or above the 85 percent threshold that permits loosened masking, social distancing, and other Covid-19 safety measures in club venues and facilities.
The NFL policy does not require players to be vaccinated. But it does make it difficult for those not that interested in being vaccinated to avoid it. Marginal players and substitutes will think long and hard about not vaccinating, lest they get cut in favor of someone who is. Even fans and stadium personnel will likely want to vaccinate, so as to prevent an outbreak that could lead their team to forfeit. The multi-billion-dollar football betting industry will surely be keeping an eye on team vaccination rates.
But is it right to nudge people, however important to public health, into being vaccinated by penalizing them if they don't? Yes.
Data from hundreds of millions of cases around the world shows that the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccinesthe options available in the U.S.are enormously safe and very effective. Of nearly all of those hospitalized and dying from Covid, 99 percent are not vaccinated.
Yet, a disinformation campaign by the anti-vaccine movement has led many people to being suspicious of the vaccine and hesitant to take it. Some players, such as DeAndre Hopkins of the Arizona Cardinals, are among those who do not feel comfortable with being vaccinated. But science does not back him up. And now neither will his employer.
The NFL and its clubs are private employers. They can impose safety requirements on players, whether those are improved helmets or coronavirus vaccines. By enacting the updated policy, they are doing the sensible and moral thing.
Covid-19 vaccines help achieve herd immunitythe only way out of this pandemic. They help prevent most people who contract the virus from experiencing severe illness, hospitalization, and even death.
Some athletes will maintain that getting a vaccine jab is just following the herd. They are right. But this is a herd worth following.
The tough NFL policy is the right call.
