Headlines

  • The Department of Defense announced today they will be reducing the size of their teams deployed to assist community vaccination centers over the next few weeks. They have assisted in administering 15 million doses at 900 sites so far. The pentagon press secretary described the situation as “mission complete”, as vaccination rates begin to fall following initial deployment earlier this year.
  • Calls to cancel the 2021 Tokyo Olympic games are growing as low vaccination rates in the country cause concern as to the risk to athletes and citizens should new variants begin to spread.
  • Electronics retailer Best Buy has announced they will no longer require masks in their stores for fully vaccinated customers and employees, as mask mandates from state governments are lifted nationwide. Employees visiting customers homes (such as for tech support) will still be required to wear face coverings.
  • UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that he sees nothing as of now that will prevent the UK from entering the final stage of its reopening plan come June 21st; emphasizing caution and that more will be known following data to be released in a few days.
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci stated early Tuesday that it is “perfectly reasonable and understandable” for businesses to continue to require masks, even as mandatory state requirements are dropped; citing that it is difficult for business owners and workers to validate if a customer has received a vaccine or not.
  • Taiwan’s Ministry of Health announced Tuesday that it will close all schools and education centers for 10 days amid a spike in Coronavirus infections. The country has seen a concerning spike in cases over the past week as Premier Su Tseng-chang urges residents to save supplies for patients in need of critical care.
  • With mostly older Americans vaccinated against COVID-19, hospitals are beginning to see a shift to higher levels of younger Americans becoming sick and requiring medical treatment. This reflects estimates coming from studying data of which age groups are receiving the vaccines at higher rates, but it is also expected to come as a result of younger people engaging in increasingly risk-heavy activity after more than a year of pandemic restrictions.
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that the nation is on track to begin vaccinating children under 12 before next year.