US may require foreign visitors to get vaccine as worldwide cases total 200M

Jeff Zients, White House Coronavirus coordinator: “The United States will maintain the existing travel restrictions at this point, however, you do have, as you alluded to, agency working groups that are developing plans for when we do open travel, how do we do it in a consistent and safe way. And part of that planning is a phased approach that foreign nationals traveling to the United States may, there’s still policy work being done here, may need to have some type of a vaccine requirement. But that’s not a decision at this point. That’s one of the paths that’s being looked at.”

“Driven by the more transmissible Delta variant cases are continuing to rise. These cases are concentrated in communities with low vaccination rates. In fact, over the past seven days, Florida and Texas have accounted for about one third of new cases and more than one third of new hospitalizations nationwide. In seven states alone, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, states with some of the lowest vaccination rates account for about half of new cases and hospitalizations in the past week, despite making up less than a quarter of the US population.”

“Businesses know vaccinations are a way to keep their workers and customers safe and to keep their doors open. And today, Yelp is announcing a new feature that allows consumers to search for businesses with fully vaccinated workers or businesses that require proof of vaccination to enter the business. Small businesses across the country are stepping up. A recent study shows that half of America’s small businesses are likely to require their employees to be vaccinated.”

“So, America’s businesses, large and small, universities and medical schools and many other institutions are stepping up on vaccination requirements. And our message is quite simple, we support these vaccination requirements to protect workers, communities and the country.”

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Yesterday, CDC reported 103,445 new cases of COVID-19. Our seven-day average is about 89,463 cases per day. This represents an increase of 43% from the prior seven-day average. The seven-day average of hospital admissions is about 7348 per day, an increase of about 41% from the prior seven-day period. And seven-day average daily deaths have also increased to 381 per day, an increase of more than 39% from the previous seven-day period. We saw 614 new deaths reported to CDC on Tuesday.”