Fixing a faltering pandemic strategy

The resurgent pandemic shows state and federal policies to contain it are failing. Yes, vaccines are the most effective bulwark against the coronavirus, but too many Californians and other Americans have declined to get them, endangering themselves and others — including children for whom the shots have yet to be approved. Officials must pursue more aggressive strategies to encourage vaccination among the resistant, hesitant and apathetic while reinstituting mask mandates and other precautions against further spread.

Driven by a return to normal business and other activities, flagging vaccinations, and a viral variant that is believed to spread more efficiently, the average daily count of new infections rose 49% nationwide over the past week and 74% in California. Hospitalizations are following, up by more than a third weekoverweek. The numbers remain low compared with the pandemic’s previous heights, but their steep upward trajectory is too familiar

and alarming.

The most appropriate immediate precaution is to require masks wherever people gather indoors. Masks have been shown to offer substantial protection against the virus at the cost of a minor inconvenience. Los Angeles County officials have mandated them again, Bay Area officials are recommending them, and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should follow suit.

While vaccinated people are at far less risk of contracting, spreading or being seriously sickened by the virus, recent experience shows that dropping mask requirements has given everyone license to forgo that and other precautions. In the absence of reliable vaccine verification, officials choose between a mandate and a freeforall.

California is, to the Newsom administration’s credit, one of only a few states offering digital vaccination records, with over a million issued so far. That should make it easier to require masks, capacity limits and other precautions where vaccination is not being verified.

The Newsom administration has also undertaken extensive public outreach, education and incentive programs to encourage vaccination. It’s clear now that they haven’t been sufficient. Seven months after the first vaccine became available, nearly half of Californians have yet to be fully vaccinated, and the number of shots being administered each week is falling.

France’s recent institution of rules barring the unvaccinated from restaurants and other places brought protests and, more important, hundreds of thousands of vaccinations and appointments within days. Vaccines are now required to work for San Francisco or attend a University of California campus. Those shirking their social responsibility to get vaccinated have to feel the weight of their decision lest we all keep bearing the burden.