delta or omicron variants coming. cnn white house reporter jasmine wright joins us now live. jasmine, we know viruses mutate. the administration is trying to show it has a handle on things. how can they possibly say they didn t see the variants coming? reporter: well, look, we have to put this all in context, paula. because this comes after the summertime where there were times where it appeared that the administration had felt like they were playing catch up trying to respond to the delta variant as it swept over the country, as cases ticked up and hospitalizations kicked up. and of course we know the president, he unleashed a new wintertime covid plan really trying to encapsulate his administration s response in light of both the delta variant taking hold of the country and also with this new very fast spreading variant.
joining me. joining me now is dr. megan raney, she s a professor of emergency medicine. i want your reaction to the news on the jobs front. i know you re a doctor but not an economist. but it seems the delta variant is keeping some from going out to eat, maybe planning vacations. really getting back fully back to normal. should people be pulling back on these things and will this be a bigger issue as we head into the fall. let s be clear, the bedrock of a healthy economy is a healthy population. we re seeing that in such stark relief right now. we saw a drop in jobs in march of 2020 before we even had national lockdowns due to covid. what we re seeing now is a result of delta variant taking hold, people are pulling back. people are hesitating to go out and do things and people are afraid to go back to work. now, what am i telling people to go out and do right now? if you re vaccinated, it s okay
those spaces to win. and its also not just those spaces to win. and its also notjust - those spaces to win. and its also notjust - they - those spaces to win. and its also notjust - they need - also notjust they need to win because their competitors have caught up, and there are many more out there now because, of course, although we are returning to the office, many are not, and this new hybrid way of working means that many will continue to use these platforms. that many will continue to use these platforms. absolutely. we are absolutely these platforms. absolutely. we are absolutely seeing these platforms. absolutely. we are absolutely seeing a - are absolutely seeing a slowdown even in the return to work, with the delta variant taking hold, and we are definitely seeing companies will be offering hybrid working environments, as well as in some cases completely remote. so the need for these conferencing facilities is not going anywhere, and as they become more seamless and
shortages, in particular the lorry driver shortage as you just highlighted. but there is some expectation this will be temporary and, although staff shortages and inflation still appear to be a lingering worry for businesses, overall business confidence, as you have indicated, really seems to have indicated, really seems to have soared in august. and i think what s happening is businesses are looking further ahead, and they ve been very encouraged with the easing of self isolation rules, for example, the success of the vaccine roll out. and certainly there now seems to be less worry about what s happening with the delta variant, as well, and other new strains of the virus. so overall there s a lot more confidence in the uk s economic recovery. but remember, the uk is coming from a low base here there s been less business confidence in the uk really since the brexit
listen to the surgeon general who says yes, we have to change from time to time. and we know that might confuse you, but he uses the baseball term, curveballs. we ve seen time and time again with the covid-19, it s going to throw curve balls. delta is the latest curveball. it throws curveballs. we ve got to respond and change our behavior, our guidance as the science changes. something else that s changing appears to be the president s focus on this in the sense they seem to get at the white house that he needs to be seen as more on top of this. the president s schedule today meeting with coronavirus team. tomorrow speech on increasing vaccinations. wednesday, meeting with pandemic preparedness adviser. your book is a fascinating look at the trump administration s largely mishandling of the coronavirus. inside the biden white house, especially knowing the lessons of the trump team. they have a giant policy challenge but also the political collisions. one thing that i learned both