Despite the rise of the Delta variant of COVID-19, brighter days appear to be on the horizon.
According to CNN, COVID-related deaths are decreasing for the first time since June. The CDC estimates that hospitalizations will drop over the next four weeks as well.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said this week that he believes the fourth wave of the pandemic could begin to wane as the virus evolves into a seasonal illness.
However, Dr. Anthony Fauci doesn’t exactly agree, saying that more people have to be vaccinated for that to happen, as only 55.5 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. While he can’t say what that number is, it would have to be the “vast majority,” of people according to Fauci. Currently, the average number of people who are dying from coronavirus a day is almost 2,000, while 114,000 new people are infected everyday, per data from Johns Hopkins University.
In order to boost the U.S.’s vaccination numbers, many businesses, employers, and schools are requiring students and workers to be inoculated, with the FDA recently green-lighting a booster shot for at-risk groups.
On Monday, news surfaced that 175 medical workers were fired in the North Carolina hospital system, Novant Health, after refusing to get the vaccine. Novant made the shots a requirement for employment. Initially, 375 employees from 15 hospitals and 800 clinics were suspended for not being vaccinated. Days later, 200 of those employees agreed to get vaccinated, while the rest were fired.
