CHARLOTTE — National Nurses United, one of the largest nurse unions, is calling for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reinstate mask requirements regardless if people are vaccinated.
“The pandemic isn’t over yet!” said Deborah Burger, president of National Nurses United. Burger has been a registered nurse for more than 45 years.
“Right now, we know that there’s about a 22% increase in COVID cases in the last two weeks,” Burger said. “That’s significant. That tells you that the voluntary mask-use policy is not working. We need clearer guidelines.
The union sent a letter this week to the CDC that indicated their concerns, which include rising case counts, hospitalizations and the delta variant.
“What we’re concerned about is that a variant will occur that will work its way around the vaccine that we currently have, and then we’re back at square one again,” Burger said.
[Delta is emerging’: New COVID-19 cases in NC reach 2-month high]
The letter stated, “More than 40 states have seen an increase in daily new cases over the previous two weeks, and more than 25 states have seen an increase in hospitalizations.”
The union also cited that data indicates the delta variant in Israel and the U.K. may be less effective in fighting off COVID-19. Pasta and Provisions owner Tommy George said he is concerned about the spread of the coronavirus.
“We were hesitant,” the Charlotte restaurateur said. “We kept our masks on for a couple months. We still had the plastic barriers up. I try to keep in touch with what’s going on because I want to be able to react, and I want to be able to protect both myself and my employees and our customers.”
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