MADISON (WKOW) -- Hospitals are working to get younger teens vaccinated against COVID-19.
University Health Services opened up vaccinations for children ages 12 and older Monday, days after the CDC recommended the Pfizer vaccine for the age group.
You do not need to be affiliated with the university to get vaccinated on the University of WisconsinMadison campus.
"We're hoping that not only people associated with UW-Madison, but other members of the community may be able to take advantage of this opportunity and perhaps even bring the entire family, and all the individuals 12 and older will be able to get their vaccine in this one spot," said University Health Services Primary Care Physician Megan Crass.
Campus vaccination is currently performed at the Nicholas Recreation Center Monday through Friday between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, closed between noon and 1 for lunch.
Vaccinations are available by appointment or on a drop-in basis, but appointments are recommended to guarantee the vaccine you want. UHS offers all three authorized vaccines Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen/Johnson and Johnson but only Pfizer is available to people 12-to-17-years-old.
Tulsa Transit is partnering with the Health Department to encourage more Tulsans to get vaccinated.
The program gives free rides to people who use the bus to get their first and second doses. This new partnership with Tulsa Transit and the health department not only gives more access to the vaccine, it doesnt cost taxpayers a dime.
"Now that weve opened up to 12 to15-year-old population, we are seeing a large increase in the number of individuals wanting the vaccines,"Alicia Etgen, THD Manager of Emergency Preparedness and Response Program, told News On 6.
Etgen says some people can't get their shot because they simply can't find a ride. "We've identified certain ZIP codes that Tulsa transit and their bus system could be a great way to reach individuals that haven't gotten their vaccine due to transportation issues," Etgen explained.
To solve that problem, Tulsa Transit is offering free rides. The program will include three department of health locations and five existing bus routes to get to those areas.
Etgen says individuals will have to pay for your first bus trip to the vaccine site. Once they get your 1st shot, you just show your receipt and get this pass at the exit. It's good for 10 free rides and one 24-hour pass.
Syreeta Burrell is with the Tulsa Dream Center, and she says she knows many families who would benefit from the program.
"They dont have a ride, so if youre going to bridge the gap and get them there, I think youll get a lot of results from this program," Burrel said, "Theyre pretty excited to know that theyre not only have a pass for one visit but they have a way to get back there for their second follow up as well."
Etgen says they hope this program pushes the momentum to get back to normal.
"Our goal is to get as many shots and as many arms as we possibly can," Etgen added.
The program is offered at the following clinics: Tulsa Health Department North Regional Health and Wellness Center, Tulsa Health Department Central Regional Health Center and Community Vaccination Center at Tulsa Community College Northeast Campus. You can find more information about the program here.
Citing early success with COVID-19 vaccine pop-up sites at subway and train stations around the city, the state announced three new hubs would open on Tuesday. Four of the initial eight locations in the pilot program would also continue to deliver shots.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the extension after 5,701 people got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine during the opening wave of the program, which ran from last Wednesday to Sunday at subway, Metro-North, and Long Island Rail Road stations. Preliminary data listed by New York Citys health department shows that 13,400 total doses of Johnson & Johnson were administered over this timeframe, meaning the subway program accounted for nearly half of these shots.
The pop-up efforts will continue at the most popular hubs so far: Penn Station and Grand Central in Manhattan, East 180th Street in the Bronx, and Broadway Junction in Brooklyn. Those sites accounted for a total of 3,497 doses between May 12th and May 15th, the state said in a press release.
According to the governor, the three expanded sites will be located at 125th Street in Harlem, Sutphin Boulevard/Archer Avenue in Queens and the Long Island Rail Roads Hicksville stop.
Citing their success, these four sites will continue to have vaccines through Saturday. Governor Andrew Cuomo's Office
Three new sites open Tuesday. Governor Andrew Cuomo's Office
The MTAs pilot made up about 10% of all the citys vaccinationsfirst doses and second doseson its opening day, with tourists and young New Yorkers lining up for the shots. City officials are working on getting young city residents vaccinated as sign-ups for appointments have waned.
People who get vaccinated receive a free seven-day MetroCard or round-trip tickets for the LIRR or Metro-North.
We will have the vaccines in the station, Cuomo said Monday during a press briefing in Manhattan. This works, and were going to find more creative ways to get people to take vaccines.
Below are the hours for each vaccination station:
FRANKFORT, Ky.
Overall, 54% of all Kentucky adults and 80% of Kentuckians 65 and older now have at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, said Beshear. And for more good news, Kentuckians as young as 12 have started getting their shots of hope.
On May 28, all indoor and outdoor events of any size and businesses of any capacitycan increaseto 75% capacity.
Just two weeks later, the states emerging economy is set for liftoff as final capacity restrictions related to COVID-19end June 11. The same day, the state will alsoeliminate the mask mandatefor all Kentuckians with the exceptions of places where people are the most vulnerable.
Beshear said the proven effectiveness of vaccinations and expanded vaccine eligibility to include 12- to 15-year-oldsis allowing the commonwealth to safely and sustainably ease restrictions.
Case InformationAs of 4 p.m. Monday, May 17, Gov. Beshear reported the following COVID-19 numbers:
People vaccinated in Kentucky (have received at least one dose): 1,927,168
New cases today: 285Positivity rate: 2.78%
For more information on cases and hospital capacity, see thefull daily COVID-19 report. To see a list of those reported lost to the virus today, clickhere.
The top five counties by percent of residents vaccinated are: Woodford (57%), Franklin (56%), Fayette (54%), Scott (48%) and Campbell (47%).
The bottom five counties by percent of residents vaccinated are: Christian (18%), Spencer (18%), Ballard (20%), McCreary (21%) and Lewis (21%).
To see all vaccination sites and free transportation options to and from vaccination appointments, visitvaccine.ky.gov. To see a list of vaccination sites that have openings this week, visitvaccinemap.ky.gov. If Kentuckians have questions, they should call the states COVID-19 Vaccine Hotline,855-598-2246or TTY855-326-4654(for deaf or hard-of-hearing Kentuckians).
For detailed information on COVID-19 vaccinations and more, visitkycovid19.ky.gov.
SPANISH FORT, Ala. (WKRG) Prodisee Pantry in Spanish Fort is hosting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic this week in Baldwin County. The organization is partnering with the Alabama National Guard and the Alabama Department of Public Health this Tuesday for a first dose Moderna shot.
The clinic is for anyone 18 years old and over.
The vaccines will be administered between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., or until the last dose is given. The second dose will be given on June 15th. No appointment is needed.
The New York Times
JERUSALEM Twenty-seven days before the first rocket was fired from Gaza this week, a squad of Israeli police officers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, brushed the Palestinian attendants aside and strode across its vast limestone courtyard. Then they cut the cables to the loudspeakers that broadcast prayers to the faithful from four medieval minarets. It was the night of April 13, the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It was also Memorial Day in Israel, which honors those who died fighting for the country. The Israeli president was delivering a speech at the Western Wall, a sacred Jewish site that lies below the mosque, and Israeli officials were concerned that the prayers would drown it out. The incident was confirmed by six mosque officials, three of whom witnessed it; Israeli police declined to comment. In the outside world, it barely registered. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times But in hindsight, the police raid on the mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, was one of several actions that led, less than a month later, to the sudden resumption of war between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, and the outbreak of civil unrest between Arabs and Jews across Israel itself. This was the turning point, said Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the grand mufti of Jerusalem. Their actions would cause the situation to deteriorate. That deterioration has been far more devastating, far-reaching and fast-paced than anyone imagined. It has led to the worst violence between Israelis and Palestinians in years not only in the conflict with Hamas, which has killed at least 145 people in Gaza and 12 in Israel, but in a wave of mob attacks in mixed Arab-Jewish cities in Israel. It has spawned unrest in cities across the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians on Friday. And it has resulted in the firing of rockets toward Israel from a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, prompted Jordanians to march toward Israel in protest, and led Lebanese protesters to briefly cross their southern border with Israel. The crisis came as the Israeli government was struggling for its survival; as Hamas which Israel views as a terrorist group was seeking to expand its role within the Palestinian movement; and as a new generation of Palestinians was asserting its own values and goals. And it was the outgrowth of years of blockades and restrictions in Gaza, decades of occupation in the West Bank, and decades more of discrimination against Arabs within the state of Israel, said Avraham Burg, a former speaker of the Israeli parliament and former chair of the World Zionist Organization. All the enriched uranium was already in place, he said. But you needed a trigger. And the trigger was the Aqsa Mosque. It had been seven years since the last significant conflict with Hamas, and 16 since the last major Palestinian uprising, or intifada. There was no major unrest in Jerusalem when then-President Donald Trump recognized the city as Israels capital and nominally moved the U.S. Embassy there. There were no mass protests after four Arab countries normalized relations with Israel, abandoning a long-held consensus that they would never do so until the Palestinian-Israeli conflict had been resolved. Two months ago, few in the Israeli military establishment were expecting anything like this. In private briefings, military officials said the biggest threat to Israel was 1,000 miles away in Iran, or across the northern border in Lebanon. When diplomats met in March with the two generals who oversee administrative aspects of Israeli military affairs in Gaza and the West Bank, they found the pair relaxed about the possibility of significant violence and celebrating an extended period of relative quiet, according to a senior foreign diplomat who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely. Gaza was struggling to overcome a wave of coronavirus infections. Most major Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, were looking toward Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for March, the first in 15 years. And in Gaza, where the Israeli blockade has contributed to an unemployment rate of about 50%, Hamas popularity was dwindling as Palestinians spoke increasingly of the need to prioritize the economy over war. The mood began to shift in April. The prayers at Al-Aqsa for the first night of Ramadan on April 13 occurred as the Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin, was making his speech nearby. The mosque leadership, which is overseen by the Jordanian government, had rejected an Israeli request to avoid broadcasting prayers during the speech, viewing the request as disrespectful, a public affairs officer at the mosque said. So that night, the police raided the mosque and disconnected the speakers. Without a doubt, said Sabri, it was clear to us that the Israeli police wanted to desecrate the Aqsa Mosque and the holy month of Ramadan. A spokesman for the president denied that the speakers had been turned off, but later said they would double-check. In another year, the episode might have been quickly forgotten. But last month, several factors suddenly and unexpectedly aligned that allowed this slight to snowball into a major showdown. A resurgent sense of national identity among young Palestinians found expression not only in resistance to a series of raids on Al-Aqsa, but also in protesting the plight of six Palestinian families facing expulsion from their homes. The perceived need to placate an increasingly assertive far right gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel little incentive to calm the waters. A sudden Palestinian political vacuum, and a grassroots protest that it could adopt, gave Hamas an opportunity to flex its muscles. These shifts in the Palestinian dynamics caught Israel unawares. Israelis had been complacent, nurtured by more than a decade of far-right governments that treated Palestinian demands for equality and statehood as a problem to be contained, not resolved. We have to wake up, said Ami Ayalon, a former director of the Israeli domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet. We have to change the way we understand all this, starting with the concept that the status quo is stable. The loudspeaker incident was followed almost immediately by a police decision to close off a popular plaza outside the Damascus Gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem. Young Palestinians typically gather there at night during Ramadan. A police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said the plaza was closed to prevent dangerously large crowds from forming there, and to head off the possibility of violence. To Palestinians, it was another insult. It led to protests, which led to nightly clashes between the police and young men trying to reclaim the space. To the police, the protests were disorder to be controlled. But to many Palestinians, being pushed out of the square was a slight, beneath which were much deeper grievances. Most Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed, are not Israeli citizens by choice, because many say applying for citizenship would confer legitimacy on an occupying power. So they cannot vote. Many feel they are gradually being pushed out of Jerusalem. Restrictions on building permits force them to either leave the city or build illegal housing, which is vulnerable to demolition orders. So the decision to block Palestinians from a treasured communal space compounded the sense of discrimination that many have felt all their lives. It made it feel as though they were trying to eliminate our presence from the city, said Majed al-Qeimari, a 27-year-old butcher from East Jerusalem. We felt the need to stand up in their faces and make a point that we are here. The clashes at the Damascus Gate had repercussions. Later that week, Palestinian youths began attacking Jews. Some posted videos on TikTok, a social media site, garnering public attention. And that soon led to organized Jewish reprisals. On April 21, just a week after the police raid, a few hundred members of an extreme-right Jewish group, Lehava, marched through central Jerusalem, chanting Death to Arabs and attacking Palestinian passersby. A group of Jews was filmed attacking a Palestinian home, and others assaulted drivers who were perceived to be Palestinian. Foreign diplomats and community leaders tried to persuade the Israeli government to lower the temperature in Jerusalem, at least by reopening the square outside Damascus Gate. But they found the government distracted and uninterested, said a person involved in the discussions, who was not authorized to speak publicly. Netanyahu was in the middle of coalition negotiations after an election in March the fourth in two years that ended without a clear winner. To form a coalition, he needed to persuade several extreme-right lawmakers to join him. One was Itamar Ben Gvir, a former lawyer for Lehava who advocates expelling Arab citizens whom he considers disloyal to Israel, and who until recently hung a portrait of Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish extremist who massacred 29 Palestinians in Hebron in 1994, in his living room. Netanyahu was accused of pandering to the likes of Ben Gvir, and fomenting a crisis to rally Israelis around his leadership, by letting tensions rise in Jerusalem. Netanyahu didnt invent the tensions between Jews and Arabs, said Anshel Pfeffer, a political commentator and biographer of the prime minister. Theyve been here since before Israel was founded. But over his long years in power, hes stoked and exploited these tensions for political gain time and again and has now miserably failed as a leader to put out the fires when it boiled over. Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, rejected that analysis. Exactly the opposite is true, Regev said. He has done everything he can to try to make calm prevail. On April 25, the government relented on allowing Palestinians to gather outside the Damascus Gate. But then came a brace of developments that significantly widened the gyre. First was the looming eviction of the six families from Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. With a final court decision on their case due in the first half of May, regular protests were held throughout April demonstrations that accelerated after Palestinians drew a connection between the events at Damascus Gate and the plight of the residents. What you see now at Sheikh Jarrah or at Al-Aqsa or at Damascus Gate is about pushing us out of Jerusalem, said Salah Diab, a community leader in Sheikh Jarrah, whose leg was broken during a recent police raid on his house. My neighborhood is just the beginning. Police said they were responding to violence by demonstrators in Sheikh Jarrah, but video and images showed they engaged in violence themselves. As the images began to circulate online, the neighborhood turned into a rallying point for Palestinians not just across the occupied territories and Israel, but among the diaspora. The experience of the families, who had already been displaced from what became Israel in 1948, was something every single Palestinian in the diaspora can relate to, said Jehan Bseiso, a Palestinian poet living in Lebanon. And it highlighted a piece of legal discrimination: Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim land in East Jerusalem that was owned by Jews before 1948. But the descendants of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes that year have no legal means to reclaim their families land. Theres something really triggering and cyclical about seeing people being removed from their homes all over again, Bseiso said. Its very triggering and very, very relatable, even if youre a million miles away. On April 29, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority canceled the Palestinian elections, fearing a humiliating result. The decision made Abbas look weak. Hamas saw an opportunity, and began to reposition itself as a militant defender of Jerusalem. Hamas thought that by doing so, they were showing that they were a more capable leadership for the Palestinians, said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political expert at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City. On May 4, six days before the war began, the head of the Hamas military, Muhammed Deif, issued a rare public statement. This is our final warning, Deif said. If the aggression against our people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood does not stop immediately, we will not stand idly by. War nevertheless seemed unlikely. But then came the most dramatic escalation of all: a police raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, May 7. Police officers armed with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber-tipped bullets burst into the mosque compound shortly after 8 p.m., setting off hours of clashes with stone-throwing protesters in which hundreds were injured, medics said. Police said the stone throwers started it; several worshippers said the opposite. Whoever struck first, the sight of stun grenades and bullets inside the prayer hall of one of the holiest sites in Islam on the last Friday of Ramadan, one of its holiest nights was seen as a grievous insult to all Muslims. This is about the Judaization of the city of Jerusalem, Sheikh Omar al-Kisswani, another leader at the mosque, said in an interview hours after the raid. Its about deterring people from going to Al-Aqsa. That set the stage for a dramatic showdown on Monday, May 10. A final court hearing on Sheikh Jarrah was set to coincide with Jerusalem Day, when Jews celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem by dint of the capture of East Jerusalem in 1967. Jewish nationalists typically mark the day by marching through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City and trying to visit Temple Mount, the site on which the Al-Aqsa Mosque is built. The looming combination of that march, tensions over Al-Aqsa and the possibility of an eviction order in Sheikh Jarrah seemed to be building toward something dangerous. The Israeli government scrambled to tamp down tensions. The Supreme Court hearing in the eviction case was postponed. An order barred Jews from entering the mosque compound. But police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque again, early on Monday morning, after Palestinians stockpiled stones in anticipation of clashes with police and far-right Jews. For the second time in three days, stun grenades and rubber-tipped bullets were fired across the compound, in scenes that were broadcast across the world. At the last minute, the government rerouted the Jerusalem Day march away from the Muslim Quarter, after receiving an intelligence briefing about the risk of escalation if it went ahead. But that was too little, and far too late. By then, the Israeli army had already begun to order civilians away from the Gaza perimeter. Shortly after 6 p.m. on Monday, the rocket fire from Gaza began. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. 2021 The New York Times Company
There is major progress on the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine, that could also help protect against some of the common colds, according to experts.
SEATTLE Its the other big news that came out of the White House COVID-19 briefing on Thursday that few people heard about. The news that there is major progress on the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert.
It's based on incredibly small proteins that help the body recognize disease called nano-particles. While that may sound like basic vaccine science, this goes beyond that to prevent illness from an entire class of viruses.
And theres a whole host of SARS Co-viruses circulating in bats, that look poised to make the jump to humans. Nobody wants that to happen, said Dr. Neil King, who is an assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington (UW) and works in the school'sInstitute for Protein Design.
Under UW Medicine, King is leading what's officially known as the Design of Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccines program. King said there are four classes of coronaviruses, but one, the beta class, is dangerous and has led to the worst pandemic in a century.
Its out of this beta group that comes SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Nearly two decades ago it was SARS CoV-1, which triggered the SARS threat back in 2002, then the MERS infections a few years later.
Neither became a pandemic like SARS CoV-2, but theyre all related and others could well follow, according to King.
Also in that group, coronaviruses that cause five to 15% of colds, and a vaccine against one could become a vaccine against all beta class coronaviruses.
We use this software called Rosetta, thats been developed here at the U.S. and worldwide, to make up new protein nano-particles and we dial in their structures at the atomic levels. That atom here, that atom there to predictively design new nano-particles that are going to make the best possible vaccine, said King.
He claims the UW's approach to engineering a specific targeted protein is better than isolating and working with existing nano-particles.
King said by designing a specific protein and forming a pattern of those super tiny proteins, it instructs the body to fight off current and future beta coronaviruses through the development of antibodies.
So the immediate priority is to develop a vaccine to protect against known and unknown SARS-like coronaviruses, said King. "Thats what many groups are going after first, and once we get that well go even broader.
Fauci cited work going on at Duke University, as well as tests in non-human primates when it comes to developing this vaccine.
So in monkeys, the nano-particle vaccine completely blocked SARS CoV-2 infection and enlisted higher vaccine immunity protection than current vaccines or with natural infection," said Fauci. "But importantly, what is the crux of this discussion is -- that the vaccine elicited cross neutralizing antibodies against bat coronaviruses, SARS CoV-1, SARS CoV-2 and variants of SARS CoV-2 we are dealing with."
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More than a dozen researchers have published a letter in a top scientific journal calling for further investigations into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
In the letter, published Thursday (May 13) in the journal Science, the authors say that two theories that the virus was accidentally released from a lab or that it spilled over naturally from animals "both remain viable."
"Knowing how COVID-19 emerged is critical for informing global strategies to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks," they wrote.
Related: 14 coronavirus myths busted by science
The authors, who include 18 prominent scientists, are not the first in the scientific community to call for more investigation into the new coronavirus's origins. But many previous statements on the issue have clearly favored one theory over the other, while the authors of the new letter tried to remain neutral, arguing that current evidence is not strong enough to favor either theory, according to The New York Times.
"Most of the discussion you hear about SARS-CoV-2 origins at this point is coming from, I think, the relatively small number of people who feel very certain about their views," Jesse Bloom, lead author of the letter and associate professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who studies virus evolution, told the Times. "Anybody who's making statements with a high level of certainty about this is just outstripping what's possible to do with the available evidence."
Other authors of the letter include Dr. David Relman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University; Ralph Baric, a professor of epidemiology and microbiology at the University of North Carolina who has spent decades studying coronaviruses; and Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who uses mathematical modeling to study infectious disease transmission.
The origins of SARS-CoV-2 have been hotly debated since the pandemic began, and some experts have said we may never know exactly where the virus came from, Live Science previously reported.
In March 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the results of a months-long investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, conducted in partnership with Chinese scientists. The report concluded that a spillover from wildlife through an intermediate host was the "likely to very likely pathway" for the original transmission into humans, while introduction through a lab accident was "extremely unlikely."
However, many countries soon criticized the report for a lack of transparency and incomplete data, according to CNN. The U.S. and 13 other governments have since released a statement expressing concern about the WHO findings.
The new letter notes that in the WHO report, "the two theories were not given balanced consideration" and that "there were no findings in clear support of either a natural spillover or a lab accident."
"A proper investigation should be transparent, objective, data-driven, inclusive of broad expertise, subject to independent oversight and responsibly managed to minimize the impact of conflicts of interest," the authors of the Science letter said.
Some experts not involved with the letter said they support the need for further investigation on the virus's origins, but they disagreed that the two hypotheses currently have equal evidence supporting them.
"There is more evidence (both genomic and historical precedent) that this was the result of zoonotic emergence rather than a laboratory accident," Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Canada, told the Times.
Originally published on Live Science.
Both of these were all-time highs in Ipsos polling.
What's the point: The Covid-19 pandemic has been horrible. Hundreds are still dying daily because of the coronavirus. Things are still not back to normal.
But if we're looking at the data, it's pretty clear that there are a lot of reasons for optimism.
These new vaccinations come on top of the polling data gains previously discussed. The US seems to be moving slowly forward in our vaccination campaign.
As long as we keep up with anywhere close to the same number of adults getting vaccinated a day, we should reach Biden's goal and then some.
It's important to keep in mind that the increase in vaccinations is coming at a time when other metrics look good as well.
But we shouldn't just be looking at a person's physical state to understand their well being. Their mental state is important too. The news there is also good.
A lower share of the population (14%) than since the pandemic began said their emotional well being was worse this week than last week, according to the Ipsos poll. And for the first time in the pandemic era, more people said mental health had improved than gotten worse in the last week.
Part of the reason our mental health may be improving is that Americans are going out and gathering with friends more than they have at any other point in the pandemic. The fact that Americans are doing less social distancing and yet illness rates are falling is also perhaps the ultimate sign that America's vaccination campaign is working.
The Ipsos poll found that more Americans visited friends in the last week (59%), which is the highest of the pandemic. The percentage of Americans in the last week wearing a mask at all times outside (58%) is at its lowest level since last June, before mask wearing was commonplace. The fact that we're still seeing case declines with lower mask wearing is a very good sign. Recent masking declines have been driven by vaccinated people being more willing to unmask when going out.
All of this data demonstrates why it's so important that we keep up the vaccination campaign. If we do so, we'll be able to safely do more and more of the activities we enjoy.
