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The Delta Variant, Talk Of Booster Shots, And Vaccine Mandates Show We Are Not Yet Out Of The Pandemic
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Here is the Radio Boston rundown for July 20. Tiziana Dearing is our host.
- State transportation officials warn commuters could face months of delays on I-93 after a truck hit and got stuck under a bridge near exit 24. With traffic at or nearing pre-pandemic levels, what could this mean for those hitting the roads? We discuss with Dan McNichol, infrastructure advocate and former chief spokesperson for The Big Dig. We also hear from Jim Aloisi, former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation and board member of the group Transit Matters.
- Earlier today Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before a U.S. Senate committee on the nation's COVID-19 response. The message? No boosters, for now. The Delta variant now constitutes more than 80 percent of new cases. There are new mask mandates out in Los Angeles. An uptick in cases here at home, with a seeming breakthrough hotspot in Provincetown ... but deaths remain low. And Boston University is mandating a vaccine for faculty, staff, and students. We discuss and take listener calls with Dr. Davidson Hamer, infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center and a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine, and Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez, an infectious disease physician, associate hospital epidemiologist and medical director of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program at Tufts Medical Center.
- "When a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur 'genius' award, and transformative scholarship are not enough to obtain job security, all academics should be concerned." That's a line written by Wellesley Professor Kellie Carter Jackson — about the saga between Nikole Hannah-Jones and the University of North Carolina. Carter Jackson's essay, titled "I Am A Black Woman In Academia. Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Tenure Saga Isn't Unique," can be found on WBUR's Cognescenti page. We talk to her about her own experiences as a Black woman who has also made a name for herself in the world of academia.
This program aired on July 20, 2021.