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 | | | Vaccinated and frustrated | | Vaccinated Americans are frustrated with CDC's mask rule reversal. And Simone Biles withdrew from a second Olympic competition. It's Wednesday's news. | | |
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| If you're vaccinated and frustrated by the CDC's reversal on masks, you're not alone. Simone Biles won't compete in the all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics. And annual cicadas are emerging from the ground. |
| 👋 It's Laura, bringing you all the news you need to know for Wednesday! |
| But first, meteor alert! 💫 Twin meteor showers could produce fireballs in the sky this week. Here's when to watch. |
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'I thought I did everything right' |
| Like many Americans, Leslie Richin thought she had done her part to combat the pandemic by getting vaccinated so she could finally go without a mask in public. "I thought I did everything right, but now you're telling me that I have to live in a restricted way again. ... I don't want to go backward," said Richin, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She thought the pandemic was fizzling out. But the CDC's new guidance to wear masks in indoor settings, again, seems to suggest it's far from over. Many vaccinated people told USA TODAY that they're relieved the CDC is recommending masks again, but they're frustrated that it was lifted two months ago, which may have contributed to high transmission rates among the unvaccinated. For the first time in more than three months, cases in the U.S. are now averaging more than 60,000 per day. Deaths are over 2,000 per week and health officials say unvaccinated people make up more than 90% of those deaths. |
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Simone Biles withdraws from all-around |
| Simone Biles will not compete in the Olympic all-around. Jade Carey will replace Biles in the competition on Thursday, USA Gymnastics said. Biles' withdrawal from the all-around, where she is the defending Olympic gold medalist, comes a day after she pulled out of the team final after one event. USA Gymnastics said Biles would not compete so that she can focus on her mental health, and that Biles would continue to be evaluated to determine whether she would compete in event finals next week. "We wholeheartedly support Simone's decision and applaud her bravery in prioritizing her well-being," USA Gymnastics said in a statement. "Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model for so many." |
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 | | Silver medalists USA's Jordan Chiles and USA's Simone Biles celebrate on the podium of the artistic gymnastics women's team final. | | Loic Venance, Getty Images | |
What everyone's talking about |
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England relaxes travel restrictions for Americans |
| Starting next week, vaccinated Americans can visit England without quarantining, a long-awaited change for travelers. The lifting of the England quarantine requirement comes just a week after the CDC and the U.S. State Department recommended against travel to the United Kingdom due to rising COVD-19 case counts. U.S. citizens have been allowed to travel to the U.K. during the pandemic but faced travel restrictions, including coronavirus testing requirements and quarantine. Under the relaxed rules for vaccinated Americans and Europeans, visitors will still be subject to testing requirements. |
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 | | People dancing at Egg London nightclub in the early hours of July 19, 2021 in London, England. As of 12:01 on Monday, July 19, England dropped most of its remaining COVID-19 social restrictions. | | Rob Pinney, Getty Images | |
Pssst: Infrastructure vote could be coming soon |
| We've got a deal. The White House on Wednesday announced it reached a deal with the Senate on a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that has been in the works for weeks and which would represent the most expensive transportation bill in U.S. history. A vote to move the legislation forward could come as early as Wednesday evening. "We have a deal ... We're finishing up some language," said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., part of a small group of senators negotiating the bill that would be the single largest measure Congress has considered to improve America's roads, bridges and railways. The compromise would clear the way for a procedural vote as early as Wednesday evening on a key piece of Biden's agenda to modernize not just roads and railways but broadband and waterways. |
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 | | Sprinklers water the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building on July 26, 2021, in Washington, DC, as the Senate works towards finalizing the bipartisan infrastructure bill. | | Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images | |
Real quick |
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Guess who's back? It's cicadas! |
| Buzz, buzz, y'all! A familiar buzz is ringing in the ears of people across the Midwest and East Coast as annual cicadas begin to emerge from the ground. They're a different breed from our dearly-departed friends, the Brood X cicadas. Annual cicadas emerge every year in the middle of summer, and they live for only about two to three years – more than a decade shorter than Brood X. These cicadas will sing a different tune from their predecessors but come out in smaller numbers, according to cicada expert Gene Kritsky. "Adults can live for about four weeks and we will see them now until September," he said. The last of the Brood X cicadas died out earlier this summer, most of them in June and early July, after spending about six weeks buzzing around looking for a mate. RIP. |
 | | The periodical cicada (right) is half to three-quarters the size of the annual cicadas that come out every summer. | | Mike Reinke | |
A break from the news |
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