with federal guidance around workplace safety. yes, definitely, we want people to get vaccinated, but what does a safe workplace look like? because if we re going to be able to get through the next wave, right, we need to make sure that we can do so, that people can work safely and go to school safely and we re not there yet. i m wondering, dr. blackstock, this is such a huge problem, such a huge issue, but go to the local pharmacy, go online and try to get a good-quality mask. i don t know which are good-quality masks versus fake masks, masks that don t work, masks that aren t available. how about testing? where do you get tests? i just went to my local pharmacy two days ago to try to get tests and there was a big spine in spanish and english, no tests. right. and so that s what we need to be doing this time. building up that testing infrastructure. so that people can get their test results back very quickly. and also, you know, we see that
weekly rate of cases, just cases of covid in new york city, by vaccination status. omicron is making itself known in the last two weeks. the purple line at the top is folks unvaccinated. the orange is vaccinated. if you are unvaccinated you have a very good chance of getting covid right now. if you are vaccinated you are also still ek posed to be sure. i can tell you anecdotally. i think it has gotten a little lost as we ve covered breakthrough cases there is still a very, very sizable difference in risk and exposure in just transmission. it is particularly true of serious illness. covid specifically the omicron variant is ripping through the northeast right now. look at those charts. like it did when it first arrived in the kourn. we don t have apples to apples comparisons because we didn t have the testing infrastructure back then. these are charts of cases by state. the red line being the state
businesses in that one is gone, but one final when the government really should sort out is the testing infrastructure. if people are supposed to be released from self isolation with lateral flow tests but they can t get it either from the website which has been down for two weeks or from the local pharmacies which are running dry and the workplace testing programme, that really does need, that is a bigger priority for us than this. but all of these three things together would be really helpful at the moment. the australian government has failed to have the visa hearing for tennis champion novak djokovich delayed. it will go ahead as planned, late tonight british time. mr djokovic s lawyers say he has a valid medical exemption from australia s strict covid vaccination policy, because he had coronavirus last month. but lawyers for the australian government have denied claims by mr djokovic, that he d been given an assurance he would be allowed to enter the country without being vaccinat
going to do it even for little kids. i would recommend at least a three-ply surgical mask. you can wear a cloth mask over it if needed or at least a several-ply cloth mask. but those are additional ways to keep kids safe and testing in schools can be an added layer of reassurance, too. dr. desi, there are still extremely long lines throughout the u.s. for testing. i am sure you are seeing them in new york on your way to work and despite the president s announcement last week about adding more, it may still take weeks for the uptake in home tests to meet the demand without the ability for the average american to go out and get tested when they need it. i mean, people are just scrambling at the pharmacy right now, day by day, trying to figure out is there a test that i can buy? do you worry about our ability to contain this wave without adequate testing available? it s a really important point and unfortunately we are behind the ball on this one. um, families are scrambling, especial
taken at times a skeptical stance on the covid-19 vaccinations. talk to us about why that s important, particularly since wisconsin is one of those states right now that s really seeing a surge in cases and hospitalizations? it s important because of how dangerous senator johnson s rhetoric has been. it s literally costing lives. we elect leaders in situations like this, in times like this, in times of crisis, and ron johnson has failed to answer the call every single step of the way. spent much of 20 going around the state making sure there was testing infrastructure, making sure we had vaccine clinics ready and available to people, but at the same time we had people like ron johnson who made not just our jobs difficult, but he made life difficult for a lot of people, people who unnecessarily had to struggle and deal with the impacts of the pandemic, people who endeded up on respirators and in icu beds