As COVID cases rise, federal officials support local vaccine mandates
A doctor extracts the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from a vial at the Corsi Houses in East Harlem in January. Credit: AP / Mary Altaffer
As coronavirus cases continue to climb in New York and nationwide, two of the nation's top federal health officials on Sunday expressed support for vaccination requirements at both public and private institutions.
The calls from top federal health officials come as the United States is averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 cases per day. Municipalities and private businesses are weighing vaccine requirements either as a condition of employment or to enter public and private venues.
On Long Island, the positivity rate continued to increase over the weekend, with the seven-day average reaching 3.58% on Saturday, according to state figures.
The share of patients testing positive, as averaged over a seven-day period, was 3.5% on Friday and 3.36% on Thursday.
Statewide, the seven-day average was 2.91% on Saturday.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement Sunday that the "reality is the Delta variant continues to be a serious threat, especially for the people who are still unvaccinated. The best way to protect ourselves and the progress we've made against COVID is for everyone to take the vaccine as soon as possible."
There were 648 new cases on Long Island on Saturday, of 3,467 detected statewide, including 344 from Nassau and 304 from Suffolk.
On Friday, there were 819 new cases on Long Island, according to the state data. There were 412 new cases from Nassau and 407 from Suffolk.
Discussion of vaccine policies come as the virus caseload rises largely among huge swaths of Americans who decline to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Such policies aim to prevent the spread of the virus and highly contagious delta variant and other strains.
Weeks ago, the United States had dipped to a low of 11,000 new cases per day, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who serves as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press" that while "you’re not going to see ... the federal government mandating vaccines for the country," he believes "mandates at the local level need to be done" by "colleges, universities, places of business."
Fauci said private institutions may start to feel more empowered to require that their employees and patrons get vaccinated after the federal Food and Drug Administration upgrades COVID-19 vaccinations to full approval from emergency-use authorization.
"The time has come," Fauci said. "We've got to go the extra step to get people vaccinated. You want to persuade them that’s good. And I believe that some people on their own, once it gets approved as a full approval, will go ahead and get vaccinated. But for those who do not want, I believe mandates at the local level need to be done."
Fauci said he hoped the FDA would grant full approval to the vaccines "within the next few weeks."
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on ABC's "This Week" news program, "the compelling case for vaccines for everybody is right there in front of you, just look at the data."
"I think we ought to use every public health tool we can when people are dying," Collins said. "Death rates are starting up again."
He added, "We are on a very steep up swift of that curve, and we ought to be thinking of every possible intervention."
Collins said it was a shame the vaccine had become so associated, for many, with political affiliation.
"How did we get here?" Collins said. "Why is it a mandate about a vaccine or wearing a mask becomes a statement of your political party? We never should have let that happen."
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Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.
