“We had an acceleration. We had a peak. All three of the parameters, cases, hospitalizations and deaths, are going down. But we have got to do better than that,” announced Dr. Anthony Fauci about the pandemic on Wednesday, October 13 (The Washington Post). He calls for higher vaccination rates in order to gain a return to normalcy.

In the US, 57% of people are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and in Fairfax County, 63.5% of the population is fully vaccinated. Those rising vaccination rates seem to be contributing to a decrease in Virginia COVID cases. For example, this Sunday, October 17, the seven day average was 2,010 cases, which is a steep decrease from the seven day average of 3,624 cases on September 17 this year, but there still needs to be high vaccination rates across the country for a true return to normalcy. 

 President Joe Biden suggests employers implement more vaccine mandates to encourage immunization. Recently, the government issued a vaccine mandate for workers of the government and businesses with more than 100 employees. New York City has already implemented vaccine mandates for all workers. Additionally, Biden reports that parents can expect decisions regarding whether vaccines are safe for children aged five to 11 within the next few weeks. The President, CDC, and Dr. Fauci all present an optimistic outlook on the pandemic, but this positive trend can only be maintained with higher vaccination rates.