“We’re Failing Each Other:” USA Today front page begs people to watch out for the rise in Covid

The weekend edition of USA Today, which comes out on Friday, is unusual. The front page of the banner reads: “We fail each other.”

Describing “America’s fourth Covid-19 surge,” the newspaper notes that “didn’t have to happen” because vaccinations are so widespread. The headlines are followed by a call-to-action: “Let’s end it now.”

A front-page map taken from data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows what the agency identifies as “high” community transmission in many counties from west to east.

Reporter Ken Alltucker writes about the high hospital admissions “in regions where large swaths of unvaccinated people offer little resistance to the highly contagious Delta variant.”

The message is clear: the United States is in a new Covid crisis due to vaccine resistance and everyone is affected.

USA Today editor Gannett said he also devoted four inside pages of the weekend issue to the spike in Covid, including fact checks; reliable information on vaccines; and a column by USA Today editor Nicole Carroll that conveys a conversation with her own brother who refuses to be vaccinated.

Louie Villalobos, a member of the USA Today editorial team, has a front page column that begins:

“We’re not here to preach or condescend. We’re just going to tell you where things are with Covid-19 and what to do if we have the chance to get back to some sort of ‘normal’ soon.”

“Our children go back to the classrooms in flocks,” wrote Villalobos. “Our workplaces will open again. Airports are overcrowded again. Restaurants, cinemas, music festivals and tourist attractions are making their comeback.”

So Villalobos wrote, “If we don’t strictly adhere to how this happens, 2020 could see a fatal return. It’s up to us. So let’s start. “