Just get the darn vaccination shot.
That was the message on Sunday from the country’s top infectious disease experts, as COVID-19 case numbers extended their nationwide climb.
Dr. Anthony Fauci called on Americans to “put aside all of these issues of concern about liberties and personal liberties” and “realize we have a common enemy and that common enemy is the virus."
“We really have to all pull together to get on top of this. Otherwise, we’re going to continue to suffer as we’re seeing right now,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The nation’s daily number of new COVID-19 cases has risen more than 50% over the past two weeks, according to official reports, in an alarming trend reaching back to roughly the start of the summer.
The highly contagious delta variant of the virus is blamed for the surge, along with hesitancy and refusal among millions of vaccine-eligible Americans over getting jabbed.
There’s no end in sight for the surge, according to National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.
“This is going very steeply upward with no signs of having peaked out,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We are in a world of hurt, and it’s a critical juncture to try to do everything we can to turn that around,” he said.
The situation is particularly bad in states like Mississippi, where Federal Emergency Management Agency staff have been deployed.
“We have about 90 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not vaccinated. And that’s very highly concentrated in the Southern states,” said Fauci, who serves as chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden.
The rise in cases in states with low vaccination rates is “entirely predictable” and “entirely preventable,” he added.
Republican leaders throughout the country have pushed back against calls for local mask and vaccine mandates, and one of the most vocal opponents, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, blamed undocumented immigrants for the COVID-19 surge.
Collins shot that idea down.
“It’s an issue, but it is certainly not the cause of our current dilemma,” he said.
“We’ve got enough of a problem with our own citizens who have refused to roll up their sleeves, so maybe that would be a better thing to focus on if we are trying to end this,” he said.
New York City marked its millionth COVID-19 case over the weekend.
The Big Apple had 1,000,469 cases as of Saturday, according to the Health Department.
The rise has prompted the de Blasio administration to require New Yorkers to show proof of vaccination in order to eat, drink, work out or catch a show indoors.
That takes effect Monday, with enforcement to begin Sept. 13.
The Barclays Center declared its support of the policy on Sunday.
“We have heard from our fans that requiring vaccination is important to them and we want to provide the safest possible environment for all employees and guests at Barclays Center,” it said on Twitter.
New York City teachers will have to be vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 tests by the start of the school year.
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who’s set to replace outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo later this month, indicated her support for that approach, although she doesn’t have the power to implement it statewide.
“I’m willing to speak to our legislative leaders and to take whatever action I need to to protect people,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
