WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – A handful of states are driving a nationwide increase in COVID cases and, while vaccinations have crept upward, pressure is building for a return to mask mandates.
The highly contagious Delta variant is driving COVID spikes across the country with roughly 100 million eligible but still unvaccinated Americans giving the virus room to spread.
Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “With that many unvaccinated people, going into the fall, with the Delta variant as efficient as it is in transmitting, we can have a really serious problem with a considerable surge of infections.”
In states with the biggest surges, vaccination rates are ticking up but not quickly enough.
Monday, as businesses and employers debate whether to mandate vaccines, a coalition of 56 leading medical groups says all healthcare workers should be required to get the shots to protect themselves and their patients.
Dr. Michael Osterholm with the University of Minnesota is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. He said, “We assume that our healthcare workers who are going to take care of us, they’re also not going to harm us with an infectious disease that they may carry.”
More local governments are now mandating masks again. Monday, St. Louis joined Los Angeles and New Orleans requiring face coverings indoors as federal health officials are weighing new mask guidance for vaccinated Americans.
Citing concerns over the Delta variant, the Biden administration is extending foreign travel restrictions imposed at the start of the pandemic. Those travel restrictions limit who can come into the U.S. from countries across Europe and much of the rest of the world.
U.S. airlines have been heavily lobbying the white house to lift the restrictions and save summer tourism.
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