The Atlantic Daily: Unvaccinated Is Different From Anti-Vax

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Delta is spoiling America’s summer respite. Cases are up. Mask restrictions are coming back. Vaccination rules are tightening.

The fully vaccinated may feel fed up with their unvaccinated peers for endangering the country’s pandemic recovery. Who are these people, and why have they still not gotten their shot?

• Not all unvaccinated Americans are anti-vaxxers. “Availability and access aren’t the same thing,” one expert told Ed Yong last week. Some people can’t afford to take time off. Also, kids under 12 remain ineligible.

• The recent jump in cases may motivate some people to get a shot. “Rather than diverging politics, people’s willingness to get vaccinated might best be understood as a function of how they perceive risk,” Daniel Engber argues.

• Vaccination gaps in the American South threaten the whole country. In one study, researchers pinpointed five regions with low vaccination rates that remain particularly vulnerable, Adam Harris reports. Four were in the Southeast. One was right next door in the Southwest.

• Unvaccinated communities in Arkansas and Missouri are suffering. Read our coverage of the ongoing crises in those states here and here, respectively.

What to read if … you’re looking for practical advice on how to manage your Delta risk:

• If you’re vaccinated, your risk of a so-called breakthrough case remains very low. And if you do get COVID-19, your immune system is better prepared to handle the virus than it would have been without the vaccine

• Experts are divided on whether vaccinated people should mask indoors.

• Our staff writer Katherine J. Wu recommends checking the virus like the weather every day.

Tonight’s Atlantic-approved activity:

Catch up on the 2020 Olympics. See photos from the first weekend, then brush up on the seven sports our writers and editors are following.

A break from the news:

The pandemic led to some surprising innovations in sex.

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.