With the delta variant now raging across many parts of the United States, some local officials are taking drastic measures in order to push past a wall of vaccine hesitancy that has been plaguing the nation, (no pun intended). For some, this simply means spending more money on advocacy campaigns and outreach, while, for others, the quest to get more shots in arms is taking a more militant approach. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday asked private businesses, including bars and restaurants, to “go to vaccine-only admission,” thereby barring patrons who are unvaccinated and insisting that the proposed policy is in their “best business interest.” “Everybody has to get vaccinated,” Cuomo said during Monday’s press conference, emphasizing the importance of “outreach, outreach, outreach.” “Deploy community groups. Deploy people who have credibility in the community, religious leaders. Educate people who still think that this is made up and it’s a problem and nobody really tested this and incentivize the vaccinations,” he said, touting President Biden’s $100 per vaccine pitch. Then came the scary part… “Private businesses, I am asking them and suggesting to them go to vaccine-only admission. Go to vaccine-only admission. We did this,” he said. “Radio City Music Hall months ago reopened vaccine-only, sold out all the shows. Sports arenas, they went up to about 90 percent vaccine-only.” The possibility of private businesses discriminating against the unvaccinated has been a growing concern among freedom experts from the moment that these inoculations became available, and it seems as though the worry is far from over.

The delta variant of COVID-19 is certainly a very different beast from the original Wuhan strain, and it has local and federal health experts in the United States scrambling. The “viral load” of the delta strain is far greater than that of its predecessor, and is powerful enough to cause breakthrough infections in folks who’ve already been vaccinated, allowing them to then, perhaps unknowingly, spread the virus to others. Now, one of these breakthrough cases is making headlines in Washington DC. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Monday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, even though he was fully vaccinated. “I was just informed by the House physician I have tested positive for COVID-19 even after being vaccinated,” he said. “I started having flu-like symptoms Saturday night and went to the doctor this morning. I feel like I have a sinus infection and at present time I have mild symptoms. I will be quarantining for ten days,” he added. Graham is the first senator known to test positive for the coronavirus in months. Nearly every senator has been vaccinated. Graham’s case is fairly unique, as a majority of fully-vaccinated Americans who test positive show no symptoms at all. Quarantined staffers for Nancy Pelosi have also recently tested positive, but after meeting with a number of fleeing Texas state legislators who brought the delta variant with them to DC after attempting to roil Lone Star State Republicans’ plans for an electoral security bill.