Response to those who refuse to be vaccinated is hardened

New York on Tuesday became the first major city in the United States to announce that it will require proof of anti-COVID vaccination to enter restaurants, theaters and gyms, joining a growing list of governments and companies that are beginning to apply firmness against those who they refuse to be vaccinated.

The meat company Tyson Foods announced that it will require all of its 120,000 employees in the United States to be inoculated in the next three months. And some 150,000 unionized workers from America’s big three auto companies will have to wear the mask again starting Wednesday.

“The goal is to convince everyone that the time has come. If we are going to stop the delta variant, now is the time, and that means we have to go get vaccinated right now, “said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, announcing the measure.

To enter the establishments, the vaccination card will be required, which can be shown on paper or through state or municipal government apps.

COVID-19 cases in the United States have increased six-fold in the past month to an average of more than 85,000 per day, a number not seen since mid-February. The average number of deaths has increased in the last two weeks from 254 a day to 386.

Florida now has more people hospitalized for COVID-19 than at any other time in the pandemic – more than 11,500. In Louisiana there are more than 2,100 hospitalized, mostly people who were not vaccinated and also an unprecedented number. In both states the percentage of vaccinated is lower than the national average.

“More people are coming to hospitals than they are leaving, mostly people over 40 or 50 years old,” said Justin Senior, CEO of the Florida Safety Net Hospital Alliance, a group representing several Florida hospitals.

crisis has turned into a duel between the vaccine and the delta variant. Experts agree that the vaccine remains effective in preventing severe symptoms and deaths caused by the mutation.

Amid growing alarm nationwide, the rate of vaccinations is slowly rising to an average of half a million a day, but that’s still far less than the 3.4 million seen in April.

70% of all adults in the United States have received at least one of the doses, and nearly 61% are fully vaccinated, but that is far less than the goal set for this time by President Joe Biden.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is running for reelection next year and has presidential ambitions for 2024, stood by Tuesday despite the high rate of hospitalizations in his state, insisting the trend will dissipate. promptly and refusing to make the use of masks mandatory and to apply any restriction to commercial activity. But he urged the population to get vaccinated.

“We are not closing,” DeSantis declared.

“We are going to keep the schools open, we are going to protect the jobs of all the inhabitants of the state, we are going to protect small businesses,” he added.

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Correspondents Alexandra Olson in New York; Tom Krisher in Detroit; and Freida Frisaro and Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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