After the CDC said vaccinated people typically didn’t have to wear a mask anymore, some states have yet to follow the science. Some reactions have shown how little science and how much politics and virtue signaling had to do with mask mandates for partisans in the first place.
Summary
States are having to navigate new mandates and recommendations after the CDC’s mask guidance effectively eliminated the need for fully vaccinated people to wear masks in most settings.
- Businesses as well are announcing new policies, in line with the new CDC recommendations, as megastores like Walmart, Costco, and Sam’s Club announced they will not require vaccinated customers or employees to wear a mask.
- On the opposite side, Meijer and a trio of grocery store chains, Kroger, Giant Eagle, and Publix, will maintain a mask mandate for customers.
- Michigan’s indoor mask mandate for Michiganders having been fully vaccinated will be lifted at 9AM on Saturday. It is apparent the “honor system” will be the path forward in Michigan as both the Republican legislature and the business community has come out against “vaccine passports”, the term used for some form of identification showing proof of vaccination.
- In the nation’s capital, mask mandates are still a political weapon, as Democrats in the House are keeping the mandate for members on the House floor, and Senate Republicans are rejoicing in no longer wearing a mask.
- A pair of doctors took to NBC News’ opinion section to warn people that just because mask mandates have been lifted, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop wearing a mask, saying people still die from influenza after receiving flu shots.
- CNN’s report ended with criticism from the United Food and Commercial Workers saying lifting mask mandates for customers puts employees at risk.
- Salon continued the concern over confusion, mandates, and enforceability by highlighting the mayor of Kansas City who lifted the city’s mask mandate but criticized the CDC saying “I don’t know if that’s the type of rule that was written in coordination with anyone who has been a governor or a mayor over the last 14 months”, while also casting super-serious concern about children who have not been vaccinated (despite the fact that less than 300 of the 568,000 deaths in the United States are 17 years old or younger).
- The New York Post chided embattled Gov. Andrew Cuomo for refusing to modify or remove any mask mandates following the updated CDC guidance, saying Cuomo is now ignoring “well-established science”, something he proudly proclaimed he was adhering to during the worst of the pandemic (when he was sending COVID-infected nursing home patients to their deaths and infecting others before covering it up).
- Newsmax’s reporting also focused on New York, as well as Connecticut and New Jersey, for failing to update its mask policies, noting “Florida and Texas ended their mask mandates weeks ago as transmission rates for the virus have declined.”
- The Daily Caller focused on a different mandate, highlighting comments from White House press secretary Jen Psaki saying the federal government has no desire or plans to impose a federal vaccine mandate, but that businesses are free to require vaccination for employees and customers if they so choose.
Author’s Take
Can we all get a grip? Why does Rachel Maddow think un-masked people are a threat? Why does failed pillow executive David Hogg feel the need to keep wearing a mask only so bystanders don’t think he’s a conservative? Can Republican staff stop yelling at Democrat members of Congress about wearing a mask?
Regardless of politics and mask mandates, can we just stop being jerks to each other all the time? The constant switching of policy positions based solely on the position of one’s political or ideological opponents is disingenuous for discourse and exhausting for everyone on the outside looking in.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
