Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles Prioritizes Mental Health, Pulls Out of Team Finals

The Daily Dive

Olympic shocker as Team USA gymnast Simone Biles pulled out of the team finals to focus on her mental health. She left the competition after one rotation on the vault in what was originally described as a medical issue. She returned to cheer on her teammates and later opened up about the stress she was feeling. Team USA went on to win a silver medal with the Russian delegation winning gold. Oriana Gonzalez, reporter at Axios, joins us to talk about Simone Biles and the mental health of elite athletes.

Next, the CDC has issued new guidance saying that everyone should wear masks in certain high transmission indoor areas regardless of vaccination status as well as universal masking for schools. This comes as the Delta variant continues to spread throughout the country. Public health officials are also worried that more variants could be on the way and the system to sequence the genetic mutations of the virus isn’t ready to track them. The U.S. is only sequencing about 10% of all Covid cases and more needs to be done so that another variant doesn’t catch us by surprise. Cynthia Koons, health care reporter at Bloomberg News, joins us for more.

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