- AP - AUG 3, 2021 - MIKE CATALINI and KAREN MATTHEWS -
New York City, Microsoft, Tyson Foods and the U.S. auto industry joined a cascading number of state and local governments and major employers Tuesday that are taking a hard line against both the surging delta variant and the holdouts who have yet to get vaccinated.
“The goal here is to convince everyone that this is the time. If we’re going to stop the delta variant, the time is now. And that means getting vaccinated right now,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in announcing that New York will demand people show proof of COVID-19 vaccination at indoor restaurants, shows and gyms.
The hard-line measure — the first such step taken by a big U.S. city — goes into effect in mid-August. Vaccination cards or state and city apps will be accepted as proof of inoculation.
Meanwhile, meat and poultry giant Tyson Foods said it will require all of its approximately 120,000 U.S. employees to get the shot over the next three months. Microsoft will demand that its roughly 100,000 U.S. employees — as well as visitors and others — show proof of vaccination starting in September.
And an estimated 150,000 unionized workers at the big three U.S. automakers will have to go back to wearing masks starting Wednesday, while nonunion Toyota, with a U.S. workforce of about 36,000, said it will do likewise at most of its sites across the country.
In a surge driven by the highly contagious mutant version of the virus, COVID-19 cases across the U.S. have increased sixfold over the past month to an average of more than 85,000 per day, a level not seen since mid-February. Deaths have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 254 per day to 386.
Florida has more people now in the hospital with COVID-19 than at any other time during the outbreak — over 11,500. Louisiana reported an all-time high of more than 2,100 hospital patients with the virus, most of them unvaccinated. Both states’ vaccination rates are below the national average.
“You’re talking and laughing with the patient and then you may walk out of the room, and then maybe an hour or two later you’re walking into that room with a crash cart because their condition is deteriorating that fast,” said Penny Ceasar, who handles admissions at Westside Regional Medical Center near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
LEIA MAIS:
Para acessar o Conteúdo acima, acesse a Home Page aqui. https://www.heitordepaola.online/