Will California make the COVID vaccine mandatory at schools?
–California has five vaccines that the children attending the schools must get. Many parents wonder if the COVID-19 vaccine will become mandatory too. The California Department of Public Health website seems to be indicating that the immunization to COVID-19 might become mandatory. The website said they would be posting the updates. The medical experts suggest that making a COVID-19 vaccine mandatory will take some time. March of Dimes, a non-profit founded in 1950 to help with the search for the polio vaccine. COVID-19 outbreak resembles the polio outbreak in many ways. The masks, the social distancing, and other restrictions were practiced during the polio outbreak too. The organization helped Dr. Jonas Salk fund clinical trials on 1.8 million children in 1954. A year later he announced that the vaccine was safe and prevented polio. After the announcement, five million kids received the vaccine. However, it took another six years for the state of California to make polio vaccination mandatory for the children entering schools. The last mandatory vaccine was that from the chickenpox in 2000. In the case of COVID-19, the children might not be the first ones to get vaccinated, since the virus mostly attacks adults and older people. Usually, it takes years for a vaccine to become mandatory. However, in case of an emergency, the process might take considerably less time.
Can California’s economy survive the latest surge?
California dealt with the COVID-19 outbreak early on. The state went into an early lockdown and curbed the spread of the virus. However, the latest outbreak was one of the biggest ones. California reported over 10.000 new cases in a day. Businesses of tourism, hospitality, and the entertainment sector have always had more than enough work. The Hollywood Walk of Fame was always full of tourists. However, once crowded streets are empty now. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state would reopen in phases. It was perceived by many as the light at the end of the tunnel. When in late May the cases started to rise again, the reopening plan was dropped. Out of 555,000 reported COVID-19 cases in California, 10,000 people have died. In July all indoor businesses were shut down again. For some of those businesses, this means the end.
Just like California’s economy, Toronto’s economy also got hit by the pandemic. Californian authorities can learn a lot from Toronto’s economic rise during the recession. There are still thousands of jobs lost during the summer in Toronto but the statistics show the positive movement. Toronto already opened the bar-restaurants, nightlife and gaming industry. As the local experts believe, focusing on the digital economy can help Toronto’s officials to fight against recession. California needs to focus more on the digital economy. Toronto has a “digital charter” that was enabled in 2018 and gave rise to digital commerce. Not only digital commerce but other industries could easily adapt to the online world. Digital charter gave chance to many industries, including casinos, to accept crypto currencies and that was a game-changing decision. Currently, the iGaming industry is the most successful and influenced space in Toronto. Financial struggle during the global recession is real but economists believe that digital charter will be a shield during tough economic situations. It’s time for big countries to focus more on the digital economy. Adapting traditional gaming industry into the digital space was one of the most successful cases from Toronto’s authorities. Local casino brands now have very popular online platforms where not only locals but also the international players can enjoy the traditional gaming offers. Accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ripple changed the course of iGaming in the whole country. Local casino brands even created online bitcoin games to attract more international players that loved playing with BTC. Big countries need to pay more attention to crypto currencies. Economic recession could last for a few months and to fight against it successfully, California and Toronto need to adjust their decisions to the digital economy.
The first weekend of August California’s Department of Public Health director resigned, following a computer error that resulted in undercounting the COVID-19 cases. Restaurants, gyms, hair salons, and other mainly indoor businesses started occupying outdoor space and pavements. Sheriff’s deputies are patrolling among the workers to make sure the workers and the clients wear masks. So far, there have not been many fines. The economic damage the pandemic has done to the state is already clear. Many places have the sign “for rent” on. Luckily, California is the tech and internet hub of the world. Tech giants such as Google and Facebook, as well as many start-ups, are based in California and continue working with the majority of their employees working from home. While entertainment centers such as casinos are closed down, iGaming platforms keep working and provide their services to the users.
