The Biden administration warned unvaccinated people against traveling over Labor Day weekend and called for vaccinated people to use the holiday as an incentive to get shots into the arms of their unvaccinated family members.
Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus coordinator, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters attending Tuesday’s coronavirus briefing that getting vaccinated should be included in people’s “pre-holiday checklist.”
“Talk with family and friends who are still unvaccinated about the benefits of the vaccine and continue to consider taking them to get vaccinated over the long holiday weekend,” Walensky added near the end of her opening remarks.
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Walensky urged vaccinated people to spend time with family members outdoors “to help prevent transmission” and wear masks when indoor settings.
“Wearing a mask is the easiest way for anyone, regardless of your vaccination status, to slow the spread of disease,” she said.
During the question and answer portion of the briefing, Zeke Miller of the Associated Press asked the administration officials if, “given the surge in cases,” vaccinated people need to worry about traveling this weekend.
“We have actually articulated that people who are fully vaccinated and who are wearing masks can travel, although given where we are with disease transmission right now, we would say that people need to take these risks into their own consideration as they think about traveling,” Walensky said. “If you were unvaccinated, we would recommend not traveling.”
As of Tuesday, the United States’s rolling seven-day average for coronavirus cases is 129,000, with 11,500 hospitalizations per day and an average death count of 896.
The CDC continues to recommend that all eligible people be vaccinated against the coronavirus if they have not yet done so, especially children over the age of 12, teachers, and other faculty members returning to class in the fall.
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You can watch Tuesday’s entire briefing below.
