Multiple reports suggest that federal public health officials will finally pull the plug on guidance pushing outdoor mask mandates, even for vaccinated people, long after it became clear that outdoor transmission of COVID is quite rare. Later today, the Biden administration is expected to announce updated recommendations on this front – which would represent another minor, belated step in the slog of returning to normalcy. I'm not sure why they keep teasing developments like this, rather than just executing them:
President Joe Biden is expected to announce Tuesday the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is updating its guidance for wearing masks outdoors as a way to combat the coronavirus. Several sources are predicting the new guidance will pertain to whether vaccinated people should wear masks outdoors. Over the weekend, the CDC updated its guidelines and recommendations for summer camps just weeks before many camps resume operations in mid-May. Children going to camp this summer can be within three feet of each other in the same-group settings, but they must wear masks at all times, according to new guidelines issued over the weekend by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The only times children should remove their masks is when they are swimming, napping, eating or drinking; they should be spaced far apart for these activities, positioned head to toe for naps and seated at least six feet apart for meals, snacks and water breaks.
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for vaccinated individuals to be wearing masks outdoors. This has been abundantly clear to any layperson paying cursory attention to the science on COVID in recent months, and the "official science" is finally catching up, in tiny increments. Hopefully dangerous madness like this will be halted immediately. As for the new summer camp guidelines, asking children to wear masks during outdoor activities is ridiculous. Children are already at very low risk from the virus, thank goodness, and even counter-productively cautious figures such as Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledge that the chances of contracting the virus outside is "really low," as he put it on ABC News this past weekend. For vaccinated people the risk is "minuscule," he said. Numerous "mainstream" and lefty news organizations have begun setting the table for lifting outdoor mask mandates in a series of articles that have drawn furious blowback from anti-science readers who insist that masks must be worn constantly, even among the vaccinated. Will these zealots change their tune when Fauci et al bless the updates, or is the dogma too strong? I couldn't help but notice this, too:
the cdc should be ahead of liberal conventional wisdom if that’s where the science is, not behind it, right?
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) April 26, 2021
But as we wrote yesterday, a lot of the political decisions and optics seem to be driven by lefty conventional wisdom and an obsession with keeping up appearances that contrast with the Trump-era ethos as much as humanly possible, even if it's not grounded in actual science. A top expert whom I respect, despite some disagreements, is former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb. In a new Wall Street Journal column, Gottlieb once again scolds officials for reacting far too slowly to new information and updated realities, thus sacrificing both their own credibility, as well as diminishing public compliance. Lifting outdoor mask edicts is long past due, he writes:
When fighting a crisis like Covid-19, health officials can never take for granted the public’s willingness to comply. The measures imposed—social distancing, wearing masks—require sacrifice. As conditions improve, policy makers must show they’re willing to ease restrictions as swiftly as they imposed them, and a critical early test will be on wearing masks outside...This is the time to revisit rules on masking and distancing in low-risk outdoor settings like parks and sports venues. Easing these rules would move more activity outdoors, which reduces viral transmission. Researchers [in one study] traced 318 outbreaks to figure out the chains of transmission. In only one of 318 outbreaks did the initial cases come from contact while outside. The rest originated inside homes or on mass transit.
Another study found that the risk of transmission indoors was about 19 times as high as in open-air environments. Yet the CDC’s guidance says only that “masks may not be necessary when you are outside by yourself away from others.” Another CDC document advises people outside to “stay at least 6 feet apart from people who don’t live with you” and “limit your time around others.” After a year of sacrifice, more than 140 million Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine. They know their dangers are receding and want to return to normal. Public-health officials need to be willing to relax some restrictions and tolerate a low level of risk. Americans shouldn’t be afraid to go outside and enjoy the warm weather—no mask required.
This all seems pretty sensible:
It's time to rethink COVID rules, says @ScottGottliebMD:
— Will Saletan (@saletan) April 26, 2021
1. Some officials cling to excessive restrictions based on outdated fears.
2. Focus should shift from daily case counts to shrinking the pool of susceptible people.
3. Reconsider outdoor rules on masks & size of gatherings. https://t.co/wmPRfWLXjB
Meanwhile, the COVID apocalypse in prominent Republican-led, mandate-free states that many were predicting – and almost rooting for, in some bizarre cases – has not materialized:
Republican-led states including Texas and Florida are reporting fewer coronavirus cases than Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York -- all of which are led by prominent Democrats who refuse to roll back COVID-19 regulations and statewide mask mandates, according to CDC data. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was widely criticized by the left after he completely reversed the state's mandate on March 10 and fully reopened his state. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was also accused of endangering Florida residents when he allowed businesses to fully reopen in September without a mask mandate in place...While both states managed to keep case positivity rates down and begin the long road to economic recovery, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan -- who are still bound to ongoing restrictions -- have led the daily increase in COVID-19 cases.
Florida had a recent bump, but that seems to be receding – and the state's most vulnerable population has been overwhelmingly protected by vaccines. As for Texas, will the president revisit his "neanderthal" attack on Texas? Will Beto O'Rourke rescind his idiotic "death warrant" smear of Gov. Abbott? Or do disastrously incorrect predictions have no consequences? On that front, I'll leave you with this update from stats guru Nate Silver (language warning):
OK it's been a month so checking up on this dude's apocalyptic predictions and yeah as you might have expected they were pretty much full of shit. https://t.co/yLoZ3YTY8m pic.twitter.com/lOxc8Ioeqp
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 24, 2021
The "wait two weeks" crowd never tires of being proven wrong, it seems.
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