It was the very chic anniversary of the year, with 475 guests. But when the press took up the case against the backdrop of the progression of the Delta variant, Barack Obama had to backpedal. At the last minute, the former President of the United States uninvited some of his expected guests, Saturday, August 7, for his 60 years in his opulent home in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
According to the few photos that have leaked, the dance was still splendid, but the affair reveals an America in embarrassment. After Joe Biden proclaimed on the 4th of July National Day “Independence” With the spread of the Delta variant and the slowing of vaccinations, the country does not know which way to go with the virus, half of the population is fully vaccinated.
Paradoxically, in New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio invited a huge concert in Central Park, Saturday, August 21, to celebrate the end of the pandemic, with stars such as Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon. But at the same time, companies are backpedaling. The New York auto show, which runs August 20-28, has just been canceled. The 3686 Festival, which brings together entrepreneurs in Nashville, Tennessee in September, has been canceled while a jazz festival scheduled for mid-October in New Orleans has been postponed until the spring.
Battle over compulsory vaccination
Companies, which had required their employees to return to the office in person in September at the office, extended the deadline. CNN has postponed the return to the office by one month, Amazon extended the deadline to early January, Lyft to February, while computer manufacturer Dell did not give a date. The banks, which had strongly insisted on the virtues of a return to the office, have not yet budged: JPMorgan asks its employees to return to the office as planned but urges them to wear a mask.
The battle over compulsory vaccination is largely played out in companies. The first to start the fight was the Texas hospital, Houston Methodist, which employs more than 26,000 people and has imposed vaccination on caregivers. Employees sued and lost. At the end of June, some 153 employees resigned or were made redundant for lack of vaccination.
The fight is sometimes against the states, the Republican governors, who have taken measures against all coercion, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Thus, Norwegian cruises, which intend to board new passengers on August 15 provided they are vaccinated, have sued and received the green light from a federal judge to impose this constraint. A federal judge also ruled on July 19 that Indiana University had the right to require the vaccination of its students.
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