California State University — the nation’s largest four-year public university system — will require students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus for the fall semester. Medical and religious exemptions will be allowed, with unvaccinated students having to undergo frequent coronavirus testing.
The decision announced Tuesday was prompted by the ongoing rise in the Delta variant throughout California. It came one day after state officials announced that government and healthcare workers would be required to show proof of vaccination, and more than a week after the University of California mandated vaccines for students and employees.
With cases and hospitalizations spiking, the focus is increasingly on ramping up vaccinations to protect as many people as possible against infection and illness.
Cal State Chancellor Joseph I. Castro previously said that any vaccination requirement would wait until official federal approval. But plans shifted because the Food and Drug Administration has not indicated whether it will grant approval by the start of the next semester.
“The FDA has not yet given full approval and we’re getting closer to the beginning of the academic term. Just as importantly, the increasing spread of the highly infectious Delta variant really prompted a change in view,” he said in an interview with The Times. “We are making sure that at each campus, we will have aggressive efforts to vaccinate our students, faculty and staff … Many of our campuses had clinics on site and others entered into partnerships with other organizations. I anticipate we will continue to enhance those efforts.”
The decision to implement a vaccination requirement was unanimous among all 23 university presidents, said Castro, who also consulted with faculty union, academic senate and California State Student Assn. leaders.
The reaction of students has been largely positive, according to Cal State Student Assn. President Isaac Alferos. He said the update aligns with the organization’s goals of ensuring the health and safety of the student body.
“I have heard some concerns that students have had about getting the vaccine. Honestly, I think that’s going to be expected and is representative of how much work we’re going to do this next year to help students understand how helpful the vaccine can be,” Alferos, 21, said. “This new provision allows some way for campuses to stay in control over how this vaccine mandate is implemented.”
Cal State’s process will largely rely on trust, spokesperson Mike Uhlenkamp said. Students would have to certify that they are fully vaccinated or seeking an exemption and attest that their answers are accurate and truthful. A Cal State campus could independently request proof of vaccination as a next step in the initial certification process.
Logistics for the policy are still being hashed out, and Cal State is still in discussion with faculty labor union groups.
It’s unclear what type of disciplinary action could be taken against someone who did not adhere to the requirement, but at this point the policy includes a warning that any student or employee who does not provide certification “may be denied access to Campus/Programs.”
All certifications must be completed no later than Sept. 30, but the deadline may be sooner for some campuses because not all 23 universities have the same semester start date.
The number of unvaccinated young adults has been a growing concern throughout the country. Roughly 11.9 million adults ages 18 to 24 have been fully vaccinated within the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accounting for about 43% of that population group. In California, the state public health department said that 99% of COVID-19 infections from January to mid-July have occurred among unvaccinated residents.
The UC requirement underscores the uncertainty over campus health protocols as the Delta variant spreads.
It’s unclear how many students across the Cal State system have already been vaccinated, but campuses in regions with lower vaccine rates are expected to have similar low rates. Cal State leaders are currently discussing vaccine incentives such as financial aid and bookstore vouchers, Castro said, as part of the ongoing efforts to urge students to get inoculated.
Alferos, an incoming senior at Cal State Fullerton, believes that incentive programs could be beneficial. He will also advocate for Cal State to address equity issues related to the vaccine as distrust continues to linger among some communities of color.
Although Cal State will offer more online class options than it did before the pandemic, it may be difficult for a student to take a fully virtual course load. Castro suggests that any student who wishes to remain unvaccinated, without exemption, consider virtual options. His hope, however, is that most students will opt for the vaccine.
“I very much hope that all of our students, faculty and staff get vaccinated,” he said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said Tuesday he pulled his children out of a summer day camp that did not require kids to wear masks, a violation of state policy that Newsom’s spokeswoman said he and his wife missed when reviewing communication from the camp.
“The Newsoms were concerned to see unvaccinated children unmasked indoors at a camp their children began attending yesterday and after seeing this, removed the kids from the camp,” Erin Mellon said in an email. “The family reviewed communication from the camp and realized that an email was missed saying the camp would not enforce masking guidance. Their kids will no longer be attending this camp.”
Two of Newsom’s four children, ages 10 and 11, attended the day camp, Mellon said. Her statements came after Reopen California Schools, a group that promotes full school reopening without masks, tweeted Monday it had obtained photos of one of Newsom’s sons at the camp. The group cast it as another example of Newsom saying one thing and doing another, something that could further frustrate his critics and other voters as his Sept. 14 recall election looms.
Signatures in support of the recall spiked last November after he was caught dining maskless at the expensive French Laundry restaurant while telling Californians to avoid gatherings of more than three households. He also took heat from critics for sending his children to private school that adopted a hybrid learning schedule as most public school students remained in distance learning.
The state’s masking rules require everyone, even vaccinated people, to wear masks in youth settings because children under 12 are not eligible to be vaccinated.
“We support this summer basketball camp’s approach of having each family determine their own masking situation,” the Reopen California Schools account tweeted. “The real problem is Newsom’s own family having mask choice, while he forces a different policy on every other kid in California.”
The group is run by Jonathan Zachreson, a parent who is supporting Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley in the recall.
Pelosi does not control National Guard requests for the Capitol.
Mr. McCarthy and others said that Ms. Pelosi had refused pleas by the Capitol Police to provide backup, like the National Guard, ahead of Jan. 6.
But the speaker of the House does not control the National Guard. And while Congress could have requested support in advance, that decision lies with the Capitol Police Board, not the speaker.
Members of the Capitol Police board have provided conflicting accounts of a debate that occurred on Jan. 4 over whether to request the help in advance. Steven A. Sund, then the chief of Capitol Police, has said he asked the board for the pre-emptive assistance but was rebuffed.
Among the reasons cited, Mr. Sund said, was a concern by the House sergeant-at-arms, Paul D. Irving, about the “optics” of bringing in reinforcements. Ms. Stefanik falsely attributed that concern to Ms. Pelosi, whose aides have said she only learned of the request days later.
A Times investigation detailed why it took nearly two hours to approve the deployment on Jan 6. After rioters breached the Capitol, Chief Sund called Mr. Irving at 1:09 p.m. with an urgent request for the National Guard. Mr. Irving approached Ms. Pelosi’s staff with the request at 1:40 p.m., and her chief of staff relayed it to her at 1:43 p.m., when she approved it. But it would be hours more before Pentagon officials signed off on the deployment and informed the District of Columbia National Guard commander that he had permission to deploy the troops.
Pelosi was not briefed about warning signs before the attack.
Republicans repeatedly said that Ms. Pelosi had been warned as early as mid-December that demonstrations were being planned for Jan. 6 around Congress’s joint session to count the electoral votes.
That appeared to be a reference to early intelligence reports and warnings that began to circulate inside the Capitol Police on Dec. 14, which were evidently never shared widely enough to be acted upon.
The long-awaited investigation into the 6 January insurrection will begin on Tuesday, when a House special committee convenes to investigate the deadly attack on the US Capitol.
It has been more than six months since hundreds of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to prevent Joe Biden’s confirmation as president, and two months since Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan plan to establish an independent commission to explore the attack.
That left Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House speaker, to create a select committee that has become the focus of an unsavory political row, with Republican leadership turning down the opportunity to participate and attempting to boycott proceedings.
What is the committee investigating?
The committee will attempt to uncover what led to hundreds of people gaining access to the bastion of US democracy, including who organized the attack and who may have funded it.
One of the aims, Pelosi has said, is to consider “how we must organize ourselves to prevent anything like it from ever happening again”.
Jamie Raskin, who led the prosecution in Trump’s second impeachment trial, said the committee will focus on “why we were not prepared for the president to unleash the violence against us and what that means in terms of security”.
Who is the committee chair?
Bennie Thompson, Democratic congressman from Mississippi and the chair of the House homeland security committee, will lead proceedings.
“We have to get it right,” Thompson told the Associated Press on Monday. He said if the committee can find ways to prevent anything like it from happening again: “Then I would have made what I think is the most valuable contribution to this great democracy.”
Pelosi chose Thompson as chairman after he crafted bipartisan legislation with John Katko, a Republican representative from New York, that would have created an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the attack.
Thompson is the only Democrat in the Mississippi delegation to the House.
What can we expect on Tuesday?
Four police officers will provide the first public testimony. The officers “are expected to testify about their experiences of both physical and verbal abuse on January 6”, according to the Washington Post.
“I think we need to pay close attention to what they’re saying,” said Thomas Manger, the new chief of the US Capitol police, to CBS on Sunday.
The officers were on duty as Trump supporters swarmed the Capitol. More than 100 officers were injured during the attack, and two died by suicide in the days that followed. A third officer, Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.
Who else will appear before the committee?
Thompson told the Guardian he wanted to interview senior Trump administration officials who were in the Oval Office as the riot unfolded, from Mark Meadows – then the White House chief of staff – to Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
Thompson said he was prepared to issue subpoenas and launch lawsuits should any witnesses refuse to appear.
“We will pursue it in court,” he said.
The committee chair suggested Trump himself could even be called as a witness. The committee is keen to investigate a call between Trump and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy that took place as the riot progressed.
Who is on the committee?
The committee has 13 seats, but as of Monday afternoon only nine had been filled. Seven Democrats, including Adam Schiff, the chair of the House intelligence committee; Zoe Lofgren, one of the impeachment managers who presented the case against Trump in 2020; and Pete Aguilar, vice chair of the House Democratic caucus.
Pelosi appointed Liz Cheney, an anti-Trump Republican who has been ostracized by the GOP, to the committee on 1 July. On Sunday, Pelosi said Adam Kinzinger, another Republican critical of Trump, would serve on the committee.
Why are there so few Republicans on the committee?
Pelosi invited Kevin McCarthy to select five GOP members. McCarthy chose Jim Jordan and Jim Banks – staunch Donald Trump allies who deny his role in the attack and objected to the certification of Biden’s win – among his nominees. Pelosi rejected the pair, and McCarthy then withdrew all his candidates. Democrats have accused McCarthy of attempting to undermine the investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — “This is how I’m going to die, defending this entrance,” Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell recalled thinking, testifying Tuesday at the emotional opening hearing of the congressional panel investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
Gonell told House investigators he could feel himself losing oxygen as he was crushed by rioters – supporters of then-President Donald Trump – as he tried to hold them back and protect the Capitol and lawmakers.
He and three other officers gave their accounts of the attack, sometimes wiping away tears, sometimes angrily rebuking Republicans who have resisted the probe and embraced Trump’s downplaying of the day’s violence.
Six months after the insurrection, with no action yet taken to bolster Capitol security or provide a full accounting of what went wrong, the new panel launched its investigation by starting with the law enforcement officers who protected them. Along with graphic video of the hand-to-hand fighting, the officers described being beaten as they held off the mob that broke through windows and doors and interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win.
Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who rushed to the scene, told the committee — and millions watching news coverage — that he was “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.” That assault on him, which stopped only when he said he had children, caused him to have a heart attack.
Daniel Hodges, also a D.C. police officer, said he remembered foaming at the mouth and screaming for help as rioters crushed him between two doors and bashed him in the head with his own weapon. He said there was “no doubt in my mind” that the rioters were there to kill members of Congress.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn said one group of rioters, perhaps 20 people, screamed the n-word at him as he was trying to keep them from breaching the House chamber — racial insults he said he had never experienced while in uniform. At the end of that day, he sat down in the Capitol Rotunda and sobbed.
“I became very emotional and began yelling, ’How the (expletive) can something like this happen?” Dunn testified. “Is this America?”
“My blood is red,” he said. “I’m an American citizen. I’m a police officer. I’m a peace officer.”
Tensions on Capitol Hill have only worsened since the insurrection, with many Republicans playing down, or outright denying, the violence that occurred and denouncing the Democratic-led investigation as politically motivated. Democrats are reminding that officers sworn to protect the Capitol suffered serious injuries at the hands of the rioters.
All of the officers expressed feelings of betrayal at the Republicans who have dismissed the violence.
“I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them and the people in this room,” Fanone testified, pounding his fist on the table in front of him. “Too many are now telling me that hell doesn’t exist or that hell actually wasn’t that bad. The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful.”
The witnesses detailed the horror of their assaults and the lasting trauma in the six months since, both mental and physical. At the hearing’s end, the witnesses all pleaded with the lawmakers to dig deeper into how it happened.
The lawmakers on the committee, too, grew emotional as they played videos of the violence and repeatedly thanked the police for protecting them. Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida told them she was hiding near an entrance they were defending that day and said “the main reason rioters didn’t harm any members of Congress was because they didn’t encounter any members of Congress.”
Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the panel, shed tears during his questioning. He said he hadn’t expected to become so emotional.
“You guys all talk about the effects you have to deal with, and you talk about the impact of that day,” Kinzinger told the officers. “But you guys won. You guys held.”
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s other Republican, expressed “deep gratitude for what you did to save us” and defended her decision to accept an appointment by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“The question for every one of us who serves in Congress, for every elected official across this great nation, indeed, for every American is this: Will we adhere to the rule of law, respect the rulings of our courts, and preserve the peaceful transition of power?”
“Or will we be so blinded by partisanship that we throw away the miracle of America?”
The House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, withdrew the participation of the Republicans he had appointed last week after Pelosi rejected two of them. She said their “antics” in support of Trump, and his lies that he won the election, weren’t appropriate for the serious investigation.
McCarthy has stayed close to Trump since the insurrection and has threatened to pull committee assignments from any Republican who participates on the Jan. 6 panel. He has called Cheney and Kinzinger “Pelosi Republicans.”
On Tuesday, McCarthy again called the process a “sham.” He told reporters that Pelosi should be investigated for her role in the security failures of the day but ignored questions about Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had identical authority over the Capitol Police and Capitol security officials.
After the hearing, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the probe could move forward urgently, with subpoenas “soon.” The investigation is expected to examine not only Trump’s role in the insurrection but the groups involved in coordinating it, white supremacists among them.
The probe will also look at security failures that allowed hundreds of people to breach the Capitol and send lawmakers running for their lives. Some of those who broke in were calling for the deaths of Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, who was hiding just feet away from the mob.
Capitol Police have repeatedly said they are hamstrung by a lack of funding. Senate leaders said Tuesday they had reached a deal on a $2.1 billion emergency spending bill that could provide more resources.
Shortly after the insurrection, most Republicans denounced the violent mob — and many criticized Trump himself, who told his supporters to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat. But many have softened their tone in recent months and weeks.
And some have gone further, with Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde saying video of the rioters looked like “a normal tourist visit,” and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar repeatedly saying that a woman who was shot and killed by police as she was trying to break into the House chamber was “executed.”
___
Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant, Brian Slodysko, Eric Tucker, Kevin Freking and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report from Washington. Associated Press writer Aaron Morrison contributed from New York.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that the “voluntary phase is over” in the effort to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to city workers — hinting that mandatory jabs for the Big Apple’s workforce could come soon.
Asked if the city will soon require all city workers to be inoculated, de Blasio said he’s heading in that direction.
“Yes, we are climbing a ladder. I’m not answering yes to your question yet,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in response to a question from host Joe Scarborough.
“But if that’s not enough, I think we got to be ready to climb the ladder more,” he added. “We’ve got to put pressure on this situation.”
On Monday, de Blasio announced that the entire city workforce will soon need to submit to weekly testing if they are not inoculated against the coronavirus. Additionally, city officials said the city, beginning Aug. 2, will require unvaccinated city workers to wear a mask at their workplaces — or face removal from them and suspension without pay.
De Blasio said all city employees will soon be required to be vaccinated.Getty Images
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said enticing New Yorkers with goodies isn’t enough in the city’s goal to get more workers inoculated against COVID-19.James Messerschmidt
On Tuesday, de Blasio said enticing New Yorkers with goodies isn’t sufficient to meet the city’s goal of getting more workers inoculated against COVID-19.
People gather during an anti-vaccine demonstration in Central Park.REUTERS
“We’ve got to shake people at this point and say, ‘Come on now.’ We tried voluntary. We could not have been more kind and compassionate. Free testing, everywhere you turn, incentives, friendly, warm embrace. The voluntary phase is over,” de Blasio said on MSNBC.
“We can keep doing those things. I’m not saying shut it down. I’m saying voluntary alone doesn’t work,” he added. “It’s time for mandates, because it’s the only way to protect our people.”
Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, issued a defiant challenge to her own party on Tuesday as a special House committee began its inquiry into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, saying that the riot would remain a “cancer on our constitutional republic” if Congress failed to hold accountable those who were responsible.
In stern opening remarks, Ms. Cheney, one of just two House Republicans willing to serve on the panel, dared her colleagues to support a full investigation into the worst attack on Congress in centuries.
“Will we be so blinded by partisanship that we throw away the miracle of America?” Ms. Cheney asked. “Do we hate our political adversaries more than we love our country and revere our Constitution?”
Her remarks underscored just how isolated she has become in her own party as one of the few Republicans willing to speak out against President Donald J. Trump and his role in inspiring the attack on the Capitol. Ms. Cheney, the daughter of a powerful conservative family, has already been ousted from Republican leadership for her insistence on calling out the former president and his election lies, and her participation in the inquiry has drawn scorn from party leaders.
The BBC’s Grace Tsoi, who was at court, said there was “utter silence” when the verdict was read out. Tong appeared very calm and waved to supporters before being led out of the dock, our correspondent said.
Simone Biles is out of the women’s Olympic gymnastics team final in Tokyo.
Biles competed in Team USA’s first rotation on vault, bailing out of her Amanar and scoring a 13.766 for a 1.5 twist. She was then seen walking off the floor with her bag and a trainer.
“Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement.
Biles was originally slated to compete on uneven bars in the second rotation, but Jordan Chiles, originally sitting out on the apparatus, was subbed in. Biles returned to the arena before the U.S. competed and hugged her teammates before watching their routines from the sideline, dressed in her warmups.
In qualification, the 24-year-old Biles became the first woman since 1992 to advance to all six possible Olympic finals — the team final, individual all-around final and vault, floor, beam and uneven bars final. Though she led the all-around ranks, Biles was uncharacteristically shaky and nearly missed out on beam final entirely.
The U.S. women are seeking their third consecutive Olympic team title.
The new requirement in California, which covers 246,000 state government employees, plus the two million health care workers in the public and private sectors, will begin on Aug. 2 and be implemented by Aug. 23, Mr. Newsom said.
“We are exhausted by the right-wing echo chamber that has been perpetuating misinformation around the vaccine and its efficacy and safety,” Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, said. “We are exhausted by its politicization of this pandemic, and that includes mask wearing that has been equated to the Holocaust. It’s disgraceful, it’s unconscionable and it needs to be called out.”
California averages almost 6,400 new virus cases per day, an increase of more than 200 percent in the past two weeks. More than 64 percent of adults in the state are fully vaccinated, according to federal data.
Last month, San Francisco announced that all of its workers, more than 35,000 people, would have to receive a vaccine or risk disciplinary action after F.D.A. approval of at least one of the three vaccines now being administered under an emergency order. Several Bay Area counties, Stanford University and the 10 campuses of the University of California have also recently announced some type of mandate to help improve stalling vaccination rates.
The order in New York City, affecting roughly 340,000 city workers, including teachers and police officers, would begin for most workers on Sept. 13, the day when nearly one million students in the nation’s largest school district return to class. Mr. de Blasio has signaled that school reopening is critical to the city’s recovery from the pandemic.
“September is the pivot point of the recovery,” Mr. de Blasio said on Monday, also referring to the number of workers who are scheduled to return to offices in Manhattan.
The Biden administration has said it is not the federal government’s role to impose a nationwide mandate. But for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the risk to veterans, who tend to be older, sicker and possibly more vulnerable to illness, was becoming too great, said Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, in an interview on Monday.
More than a month after a horrifying condo building collapse in Surfside, Fla., authorities have identified the last victim’s remains.
Estelle Hedaya, 54, was identified Monday. Her younger brother, Ikey Hedaya, confirmed the news to The Associated Press.
A total of 98 people were killed June 24 when the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium crashed to the ground. Ninety-seven bodies were pulled from the debris and one died at a hospital. County officials accounted for 242 people who had lived in the complex.
Firefighters Friday declared the end of their search for bodies at the site, continuing the investigation of the debris now stored at a Miami warehouse.
Hedaya was called a “fun-loving person” by a friend of nearly three decades, Sharona Abadi.
“She was a person who loved life,” Abadi told the Palm Beach Post. “You can put her into a room, and she’ll be the type that just makes friends. She was the life of the party.”
Hedaya moved from New York to Surfside about five years ago after landing a job at a jewelry company. A mutual friend last spoke to her around 11 p.m. June 23, Abadi said.
On the day of the collapse, Abadi volunteered at the Skylake Synagogue and The Shul, doing everything she could to help comfort families awaiting word of their loved ones.
When she returned to her Aventura home that night and turned on the 11 p.m. news, she saw a familiar sight: Her friend’s balcony, from where Hedaya would often share photos.
“Estelle please tell me you’re not in Champlain South. We are worried for you,” Abadi texted.
Hedaya’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday.
On Friday, Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky recognized the grueling work of the firefighters who have worked in 12-hour shifts in the past four weeks. Search crews battled through heat, lightning storms and a recurring fire to remove more than 14,000 tons of broken concrete and rebar, often working boulder by boulder and rock by rock
“It’s obviously devastating. It’s obviously a difficult situation across the board,” Cominsky said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the men and women that represent Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.”
During a news conference Monday, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the Surfside collapse was the largest non-hurricane-related response in the history of Florida.
“The tragedy at Surfside will be something that lives with all of us forever,” she said. “It’s also my hope that through this tragedy, the bonds we’ve built will grow stronger.”
Missouri’s attorney general has filed suit seeking to halt a mask mandate that took effect Monday in the St. Louis area amid a rise in COVD-19 cases that are burdening a growing number of hospitals around the state.
The lawsuit by Attorney General Eric Schmitt argues the mandates are “arbitrary and capricious because they require vaccinated individuals to wear masks, despite the CDC guidance that this is not necessary.” It also questions mandating children to wear masks in school, noting they are less likely to become seriously ill.
But COVID-19 cases with vaccinated individuals are on the rise — though hospitalizations of vaccinated Americans are rare.
Nevertheless, the rise in infections is prompting communities at the least to require masking — and at the most, institute vaccine mandates. Savannah, Georgia, reimposed Monday a requirement that people wear masks in public, as has Los Angeles County and many municipalities coast-to-coast.
Meanwhile, the United States is again reporting more than 50,000 new cases daily on a rolling 7-day average as the delta variant sweeps around the country. The United States last hit that mark April 30, when cases were falling as vaccines took hold of the pandemic.
Even with most Americans at least partially vaccinated, the country is already reporting cases at more than three-quarters of the pace of the worst week in summer 2020, when about 67,000 cases per day were reported.
►Tokyo on Tuesday reported its highest number of new COVID-19 cases at 2,848, exceeding the earlier record of 2,520 cases on Jan. 7. Tokyo is under its fourth state of emergency, which is to continue through the Olympics until just before the Paralympics start in late August.
►At least 70% of adults in the European Union have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, keeping the 27-nation bloc on course to reach full vaccination in 70% of adults by the end of summer, the European Commission said Tuesday. Around 57% of adults in the EU are currently fully vaccinated.
►The Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic is requiring all of its employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by Sept. 17, it announced Monday. The Department of Veterans Affairs also announced Monday that it will require its health care professionals to be vaccinated within the next two months as coronavirus infections have more than doubled in the past month at its medical facilities.
►Hawaii’s Department of Health is recommending that masks be used in all indoor settings at schools and that social distancing be observed in classrooms when possible. Masks are recommended outdoors when there is crowding or prolonged close contact.
►Australia’s second-most populous city is ending its fifth pandemic lockdown Tuesday as the Victoria state government declares it has beaten an outbreak of the highly contagious coronavirus delta variant for a second time.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has had more than 34.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 610,900 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 194.6 million cases and 4.16 million deaths. More than 163.7 million Americans — 49.1% of the population – have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
📘What we’re reading: The CDC says masks for the vaccinated are optional. As COVID cases climb, some feel differently.
The end of state eviction moratoriums likely led to thousands of COVID deaths, study says
The termination of eviction moratoriums in different states and municipalities likely led to hundreds of thousands of additional COVID cases and deaths, according to a study published Monday.
The study, published by UCLA researchers, compared COVID cases across 43 states — some of which kept eviction moratoriums and others who did away with them in spring or summer of 2020. States that did without saw an average of twice as many COVID cases and five times as many deaths, and ending eviction protections led to 433,000 COVID-19 cases and 10,000 additional deaths by September 2020, the study concluded.
The federal eviction moratorium, preventing tenants who are behind on rent from being removed from housing on public health grounds amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, will end this Saturday.
Report: Pfizer and Moderna widen age range of trials down to 5-year-olds
Pfizer and Moderna are expanding their vaccine trials for children ages 5 to 11, according to a new report.
The New York Times reported that the decision came from the Food and Drug Administration’s push to investigate rare side effects, including heart inflammation, that has come up in vaccinated people below the age of 30. The FDA asked the two companies to incorporate 3,000 additional children between the ages of 5 and 11 into the group, the Times reported.
Regulators will have to balance the potential side effects of the vaccines against the risk of COVID-19. Members of a CDC advisory committee believe that the protection the vaccine offers for people older than 12 outweighs the risks of side effects.
US intends to keep travel restrictions in place against UK, European countries
The United States has no plans to lift travel restrictions at this point given the rise of the delta variant, according to the White House.
The decision means the country’s current travel restrictions — which deny entry for people from the European Schengen area, United Kingdom and other countries — will remain in place.
“Given where we are today… with the delta variant, we will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point for a few reasons,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news briefing Monday. “The more transmissible delta variant is spreading both here and around the world. Driven by the delta variant, cases are rising here at home, particularly among those who are unvaccinated and appear likely to continue in the weeks ahead.” Read more here.
– Bailey Schulz
Vanderbilt Medical Center mandates COVID-19 vaccines for leadership
Vanderbilt University Medical Center will require employees with leadership roles to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
Employees were alerted to the mandate via an employee newsletter on July 15, VUMC spokesman John Howser confirmed in an email to The Tennessean.
All VUMC leaders are required to get the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or provide a medical or religious exemption by Aug. 15. They must be fully vaccinated or have an approved exemption by Sept. 15.
“The deadline for requiring all VUMC employees to be vaccinated or have an approved exemption is under consideration and will be communicated at a later date,” Howser said.
The medical center is requiring VUMC leaders to be vaccinated to show an “overall commitment to promoting vaccination.”
In May, Vanderbilt University announced it would require students to receive the vaccine for the 2021-2022 school year. All faculty, staff and postdoctoral fellows employed by the university are also required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 for the upcoming school year.
The news of Enzi’s death came hours after the announcement that the former senator had “sustained serious injuries” while riding a bicycle near his home in Gillette, Wyo., last week.
Following the accident, Enzi was “life flighted” Friday evening from Gillette to UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colo., where he was admitted for treatment.
The former senator’s Twitter account tweeted Monday afternoon that the “extent of Enzi’s injuries and the details of the biking accident are unknown at this time. Medical staff continue to evaluate his condition.”
Enzi served four terms in the Senate before retiring in 2020 as chairman of the powerful Budget Committee. He was replaced by former Rep. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican.
Prior to his Senate career, Enzi had served as mayor of Gillette and as a member of the state’s House and Senate. He also served on the U.S. Department of Interior Coal Advisory Committee.
A graduate of The George Washington University and the University of Denver, Enzi was formerly a member of the Wyoming National Guard and an accountant who owned and operated family shoe stores in Wyoming and Montana.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it will require its health care professionals to be vaccinated within the next two months as coronavirus infections have more than doubled in the past month at its medical facilities.
The VA reported nearly 3,900 infections among veterans and staff Monday, up from about1,500 in mid-June, a USA TODAY review found. Hospitalizations last week totaled 345, up from 225 at the end of May.
The numbers are nowhere near the peak of nearly 18,000 cases reported at the VA in January, but they’re growing. In the past week alone, the VA reported 911 more active infections and 73 more deaths.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement Monday that mandating vaccines is “the best way to keep veterans safe, especially as the delta variant spreads across the country.”
The VA is the first major federal agency require vaccinations. It’s the second-largest agency behind the Pentagon.
VA medical centers in Florida reported the steepest increases in cases, with dozens more infections in Bay Pines, Gainesville, Tampa and Orlando, USA TODAY found. Deaths were scattered, with 18 facilities reporting at least two deaths, including those in Las Vegas, Houston and Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The VA runs more than 1,200 medical facilities across the country. Officials say veterans who aren’t vaccinated now account for 70% of its COVID-19 cases and 73% of hospitalizations.
VA data show roughly 300,000 employees – nearly 80% – have been vaccinated. But that includes staff not involved in patient care, and the percentage has varied widely by facility. Earlier this month, VA officials confirmed that 85% of staff at the facility in New Orleans had been inoculated, compared with 59% in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
“Whenever a veteran or VA employee sets foot in a VA facility, they deserve to know that we have done everything in our power to protect them from COVID-19,” McDonough said. With this mandate, we can once again make – and keep – that fundamental promise.”
‘Trying to bust down all the doors’
Jane Kim, physician and chief consultant for preventive medicine at the VA, told USA TODAY in an interview last week the agency is redoubling vaccination efforts.
“Now more than ever, we’re really trying to bust down all the doors to get the message out for people who haven’t yet been vaccinated to please consider getting a vaccine,” Kim said.
Just over half of the roughly 6 million veterans who depend on the VA for health care have been inoculated, according to VA data. VA officials say they believe some patients have been vaccinated elsewhere, but they don’t know how many. Nearly 60% of adults in the United States are fully vaccinated.
VA officials said roughly 10% of veterans, or 600,000, indicated they are “not interested” in getting the shots.
The VA said in its statement announcing the employee vaccine mandate that four employees died from COVID-19 in recent weeks. All were unvaccinated.
“At least three of those employees died because of the increasingly prevalent Delta variant,” the agency said. “There has also been an outbreak among unvaccinated employees and trainees at a VA Law Enforcement Training Center, the third such outbreak during the pandemic.”
The vaccine mandate applies to health care personnel, including doctors, registered nurses and physician assistants.
Kim said the VA has been giving employees paid time off if they provide proof of vaccination.
Amid the increase in cases, “vaccination remains our key strategy to help keep our veterans safe and well as well as our staff,” Kim said.
‘Political mumbo-jumbo’?
When the pandemic hit last year, Melissa Vives and her husband settled into a routine of working from home, being cautious and staying safe. When vaccines first became available, the U.S. Army veterans weren’t eager to take what they saw as a risk.
“There was just this real concern of, what exactly are we getting ourselves into? Is this being pushed too fast? My God. Is this like a political mumbo-jumbo?” Melissa Vives said in an interview last week. “I think that everything was just so questionable.”
Many veterans like them were skeptical of the vaccine, the VA found in March. The VA found 3 in 10 surveyed had not been vaccinated; most of them didn’t plan to or were undecided.
The numbers were better than a poll by Blue Star Families in December, when nearly half of veteran families surveyed said they didn’t plan to get vaccinated. One veteran’s spouse told pollsters she objected to her family being “guinea pigs.”
But the Viveses decided they could help stop the spread of the virus by getting vaccinated. They called the VA, rolled up their sleeves and got vaccinated at a pop-up clinic in Aurora, Colorado. By the end of April, both had gotten their shots.
“This is uncharted territory for all of us,” Vives said. “But man, if there’s a vaccine that is at least just a little bit of one step in the right direction, I’m going to jump on it and do it to help.”
She and her husband are volunteers with Team Rubicon, a veterans organization that was part of the Biden administration’s wide-ranging campaign to encourage vaccinations in April. The group was among a dozen veterans’ organizations featured as “trusted voices,” including the American Legion and Vietnam Veterans of America.
Disabled American Veterans pitched in on a public service announcement and is spreading the message on social media. AMVETS has hosted vaccine centers at posts and a VA mobile vaccination clinic at its annual memorial motorcycle ride.
Team Rubicon joined other groups in the Veterans Coalition for Vaccination, hosted a May forum on Facebook, and created a series of public service ads. One tells vets that the vaccination effort is a “call to arms – yours.” The organization helped distribute more than 1.6 million vaccines across 95 cities.
Art delaCruz, CEO of Team Rubicon and a Navy veteran, said veterans could be key to reaching herd immunity in the U.S.
“We believe if we could get veterans on board, and they became the example and the messenger of vaccine confidence and acceptance, we could move the needle on the overall population,” he said.
Veterans come from a trusted institution – the military – and, he said, they understand the collective responsibility of being part of a unit where one person’s actions can protect or undermine everyone’s well-being.
“The discussion, the resistance, is at a singular level – ‘Don’t tread on me. Don’t tell me what to do,’” delaCruz said.
But for veterans, “this is something we know how to do – this is something we understand,” he said. “Because as brothers and sisters in arms, we were in the ship, and we said, this isn’t about me, this is about us.”
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Aileen Marty likens getting the vaccine to stopping at a stop sign or a red light. “Is it really a personal choice?” asked Marty, a medical professor at Florida International University and clinical consultant at the university’s high-complexity COVID-19 lab. “It’s not just about the traffic ticket, it’s about the fact that you can kill somebody.”
An unvaccinated person is “a risk to you and your family,” Marty said. “Because he is a contributor to that bolus of people where the virus can thrive and develop into a new, worse variant that can overwhelm the protection you, as a vaccinated person, have.”
Hundreds of thousands of veterans ‘take a pass’
The percentage of veteran patients vaccinated at VA facilities has ticked steadily upward: 21% in March, 36% in April, and 42% in May. By July, the pace slowed considerably. In the past three weeks, it inched from 49.5% to 51.5%.
Kim, the chief consultant leading the vaccination effort at the VA, said headquarters asked every medical center in May and June to go through their patient lists, contact every veteran with an unknown vaccination status, and ask them to get inoculated if they hadn’t already.
“And if they are deciding to take a pass and didn’t want to be vaccinated, to just let us know that,” she said.
“If that’s their choice, we’ve recorded it in our system and said, ‘We respect that,’” she said. “I mean, that’s what I would say: ‘I respect that, we’re here for you if you change your mind.’”
Aside from the roughly 10% of patients who said they weren’t interested, VA officials said they are still contacting veterans and gathering information and documentation of vaccinations performed outside the VA. Kim said efforts have intensified in light of the variants’ spread, and the VA is sending letters to veterans nationwide imploring them to get the shot if they haven’t and telling them where they can get it.
“There’s still a pocket of people we have not yet reached,” she said. For those who are open to it, Kim said her message is that the vaccine is safe, effective, and abundant.
“If you’re waiting to get a vaccine, why don’t you go ahead and get it, because we have vaccine all over the place in VA, and at your local pharmacy, your local doctor’s office – it doesn’t matter where, just make the decision, go ahead and get the vaccine,” she said. “It will help all of us, it will help you, it will help your family.”
At the Vives’ house in Colorado, there is a new sense of urgency as the delta variant rages through the neighborhood. A family of six that lives next door all contracted the virus, Melissa Vives said. Only one had been vaccinated. They all got sick – the vaccinated one mildly, the others seriously.
One ended up in the hospital for two months. He got home about three weeks ago, she said, and he’s still on oxygen.
“He said, ‘Man, I don’t trust the doctors. I didn’t really trust the vaccine. But as soon as I have the chance to get the vaccine, I’m getting it,’” Vives said.
Her husband wishes there were an incentive to get folks over their vaccine distrust before suffering through the disease or watching their loved ones suffer and perhaps die.
“Afterwards, you hear them say, I wish I’d have gotten the vaccination,” Eddie Vives said. “We want everybody to be OK, to deal with this together, and just fight this virus.”
The final missing victim in the Surfside condo collapse has been identified, bringing the death toll to 98, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Monday. The announcement comes days after authorities ended their search for bodies at the site and more than a month after the deadly collapse.
“Nothing we can say or do will bring back these 98 angels who left behind grieving families, beloved friends, loved ones across this community and across the world,” Levine Cava said at a press conference. “But we have done everything possible to bring closure to the families.”
While all of the victims who were reported missing have been identified, Levine Cava said the Miami-Dade Police Department is still searching the evidentiary pile “to ensure that all identifiable human remains are recovered.” In total, 242 people were accounted for, she said.
The 98th victim was identified by her family as 54-year-old Estelle Hedaya. Her brother, Ikey Hedaya, told CBS Miami that her remains will be flown to the family’s home in Midwood, Brooklyn, for a Jewish funeral followed by Shiva. Ikey said he had provided DNA samples and had visited the collapse site twice before his sister’s body was identified.
This June 1, 2021, photo provided by Liz Segel shows Estelle Hedaya at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
AP
“She always mentioned God anytime she was struggling with anything,” he told The Associated Press. “She had reached a different level spiritually, which allowed her to excel in all other areas.”
Levine Cava’s announcement marks the end of a weekslong mission to find and identify the victims of the devastating incident, which took place in the early hours of June 24. Rescuers moved millions of pounds of the debris before declaring their search had ended on Friday.
The site of the collapse is now mostly flat. Most of the debris has been moved to a new area, where police are continuing to search through it for victims’ personal items, Levine Cava said.
Levine Cava said she has visited the area where searchers are now reviewing the debris, and described it as “very moving.”
“They are working hours upon hours in the sun, in the rain, and when they find something, it’s a treasure,” she said. “They are doing this with tremendous care and real hope that they can bring things to the family members.”
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