- Officials in talks with CDC about updating masking guidance
- Fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most settings
2.30pm BST
It’s a rare sign of the times and specific moment for Trump supporters: former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the former Republican presidential nominee, who endorsed Donald Trump now says the 45th president lost fair and square to Joe Biden. Here’s the key line from the USA Today report:
“He lost the election, and I regret that he did, but they did,” Dole said. “He had Rudy Giuliani running all over the country, claiming fraud. He never had one bit of fraud in all those lawsuits he filed and statements he made.”
“I’m a Trumper,” Dole said at one point during the conversation. But he added at another, “I’m sort of Trumped out, though.”
2.16pm BST
Goodmorning, Daniel Strauss here. Let’s get started.
At the White House, officials are debating whether to urge Americans to wear masks more often to curb the spread of coronavirus. That’s according to a new report in The Washington Post detailing the still preliminary deliberations:
The talks are in a preliminary phase and their result could be as simple as new messaging from top White House officials. But some of the talks include officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who are separately examining whether to update their masking guidance, according to a Biden administration aide and a federal health official.
Officials cautioned that any new formal guidance would have to come from the CDC, and they maintained that the White House has taken a hands-off approach with the agency to ensure they are not interfering with the work of scientists. But the high-level discussions reflect rising concerns across the administration about the threat of the delta variant and a renewed focus on what measures may need to be reintroduced to slow its spread.
“These vacines are saving lives”
In his most direct effort to encourage people to get vaccinated, Governor Ron DeSantis said 95% of the new COVID cases are those who are not vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/3RzHYEH1mI