Reopening America

Mask and vaccine mandates are coming, Covid cases are rising and so is the anger. There is a growing frustration that the vaccinated are having with the unvaccinated as we see the majority of cases are all happening with those refusing the shot. Roni Rabin, health reporter at the NY Times, joins us for all the anger surrounding vaccines.  

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The CDC has issued new guidance saying that everyone should wear masks in certain high transmission indoor areas regardless of vaccination status as well as universal masking for schools. This comes as the Delta variant continues to spread throughout the country. Public health officials are also worried that more variants could be on the way and the system to sequence the genetic mutations of the virus isn’t ready to track them. The U.S. is only sequencing about 10% of all Covid cases and more needs to be done so that another variant doesn’t catch us by surprise. Cynthia Koons, health care reporter at Bloomberg News, joins us for more.

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Here come the vaccine mandates! The Dept. of Veterans Affairs has become the first federal agency to require its healthcare workers to be vaccinated. New York City is mandating vaccines for city employees or weekly tests. And California is the first state requiring health care workers and state employees to show proof of vaccination or get tested weekly. Erin Allday, health writer at the SF Chronicle, joins us for the new vaccine requirements.

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The restaurant industry has been having a hard time coming back after the pandemic. Each month so far this year, about 5% of restaurant and hospitality workers have quit their jobs largely due to low pay, no benefits, and rude customers. There are currently 1.2 million jobs unfilled in the industry despite rising wages and signing bonuses. Alina Selyukh, business correspondent at NPR joins us for more.

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The Tokyo Olympics are now officially under way and they will definitely be an Olympics like no other. Happening amid the pandemic and rising numbers locally in Japan, these Games will also not have any spectators. The big question now is how that might affect the athletes, having no cheering fans and the bigger concern, not having their families present. Questions have also been raised about athletes not being subject to the usual, rigorous drug testing standards. Erin Doherty, reporter at Axios, joins us for more.

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Largely driven by the pandemic, drug overdoses and homicides, U.S. life expectancy fell by 1.5 years in 2020. This is the biggest decline since World War II. The group that fared the worst were Hispanic men who had a drop of 3.7 years. Life expectancy is an important number because it is a measure of a nation’s well-being and prosperity. Betsy McKay, senior writer at the WSJ, joins us for the big drop.

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With the concerning Delta variant of Covid-19 and surging cases of infection, many public health officials think that tactics may need to change to increase vaccination rates. Vaccine mandates have been talked about, but the government and many businesses have not gone that way… yet. Many health experts think that could change once the FDA grants full approval to the current vaccines. Shannon Pettypiece, senior White House reporter at NBC News Digital, joins us for why mandates could be on their way.

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18-year-old Kara Eaker is the first U.S. athlete to test positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Tokyo for the Olympic Games. She is an alternate for Team USA Gymnastics and has been taken to a hotel to quarantine until she tests negative. While vaccination rates are low in Japan, about 85% of the delegations are expected to be vaccinated. Tina Reed, healthcare editor and author of VITALS at Axios, joins us for this early test to Olympic Covid protocols.

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Pandemic reality check… we are getting further away from the end than we should be. To be clear, it is nowhere near as bad as it was at the height of the pandemic, but once again numbers are trending in the wrong way. Infections are going up, hospitalizations and deaths are going up, and in some places like L.A. County, mask restrictions are being re-imposed. Joel Achenbach, science reporter at the Washington post, joins us for more.

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Drug overdose deaths have risen sharply in the country by 30% in 2020 with over 93,000 deaths. A large driver of those deaths were the result of the synthetic opioid fentanyl as it has been frequently mixed into other drugs. The pandemic also played a role in this as people who were receiving treatment or wanted it had difficulty accessing it early on. Isolation and other life disruptions also fueled the uptick. Betsy McKay, senior writer at the WSJ, joins us for the rise in overdose deaths.

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