most states have dropped all of those nonpharmaceutical interventions. things like mask mandates or distancing or rapid testing. and we have kids going back to school. we have travel at levels that we ve barely seen since the beginning of the pandemic. and we have folks going back inside in the north and northeast. we know that this virus spreads more easily in indoor locations than outdoors. we are heading towards a very difficult month to two months ahead of us. i mean, look at the pictures. we have stadiums packed, maskless people in coming in droves. and you have got new coronavirus cases that are more than four-times higher than compared to labor day last year. i mean, covid-related deaths, hospitalizations, they are also increasing. and we are supposed to be in a very different place as a country by now. is that can we ever get there now? you know, it s a great question. i think we need to come to grips with the fact that covid-19 is never going to go away.
is that i don t think a few weeks will make a difference in terms of the breakthrough infections or significant clinical indifference in terms of infecting more people. got it. which is why i think vax mandates sore important. we are focusing so much on the vaccines that we also need to focus on these other nonpharmaceutical interventions like masking and testing to bring numbers town. one of the things we talked about at the top of the broadcast dr. blackstock is hospitalizations up five-fold for kids. we know kids under 12 are not getting the vaccine at this moment. kids under 2, my own daughter, for example, not even wearing masks, right? what is your advice to parents as we head into the back-to-school season with outbreaks at schools across the country, hundreds of schools getting closed already this school year alone, first week of september. what should schools be doing and importantly, what should parents be doing? i understand i have a 4 and
there will be even more constraining. you re going to see an even bigger impact on the health care system. there has to be some effort. we re seeing vaccinations go up. but there have to be some efforts of nonpharmaceutical interventions. once you vaccinate people, it takes weeks before they get full immunity. what about now, the cases occurring now that are overwhelming the health care system, and i do hope the governors in those states look at the mask mandates again, really look at those interventions because that s what s going to help today. you look at texas, and they are asking for medical workers to come in from other states to support their staff there. you have dr. chuck burnell, telling the guardian hospitals in lake charles, louisiana, so overrun, they have to send patients to hospitals in texas, and you have texas turning to other states for medical workers. when you look at this as a question of human capacity, dr. bhadelia, how much longer can we go on like this?
and illinois and california. those states, all run by liberals. they all walked down to long and they are now rushing to pile on the mandates once again because they worked so well the first time. that s why they were so quick to turn on cuomo. because by pushing them out, they get to take credit for policing their own. and they hope their voters in their own states are going to forget about the massive collateral damage their own horrendous policies in their own states caused. well, i am saying tonight that s wishful thinking. but it s no surprise that the democrats are desperately trying to convince you that somehow florida governor ron desantis is leading his state into an abyss because he has come out against mandates. no masks for kids. no vaccine mandates for state workers of course. desantis is right. these nonpharmaceutical interventions have never been
but we also need to use other nonpharmaceutical interventions to address this as well as paid sick leave to help people get vaccinated. we could still have to think about what are the risk factors they re putting certain segments of the population at risk for contracting covid-19. and address those systemic inequities as well. i have to say mom to mom, thank you so much for sort of walking us through your own thinking on this. both here and on twitter. i found it personally just invaluable so thank you. now, in alabama covid cases shot up 174% in the past two weeks. hospitals at a breaking poin. alabama state dr. scott harris said 93% of the state s beds are occupied. nearly all covid-19 deaths in alabama are among the unvaccinated. and as of now, alabama does not have a state wide mask mandate. and my next guest, the mayor of