On Wednesday evening, I was at dinner at an Italian restaurant in Washington, DC. COVID restrictions came up, of course, and my dining companions remarked that despite the highly controversial new CDC guidance issued this week, there was no mask mandate back in place. I responded that it was only a matter of time, and perhaps even a matter of hours. And so, depressingly and predictably, it came to pass:
News: DC will again require masks in all indoor settings, starting Saturday. Mayor Bowser’s order will apply to everyone over age 2, vaccinated or unvaccinated.
— Julie Zauzmer (@JulieZauzmer) July 29, 2021
Over age two. This is nuts, for reasons we've recently discussed, citing doctors and data. Does DC have a frighteningly low vaccination rate? No. Out of the 50 states and the District, DC ranks 13th out of 51. Is there an explosion of hospitalizations or deaths in the District that informed this decision? Once again, no:
“The highly contagious delta variant plaguing much of the country has been scarcely reported in the District, and as cases among vaccinated people are generally not severe, the city’s hospitals are not overwhelmed by covid patients.” https://t.co/z4EEMEk671
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) July 29, 2021
Breakthrough infections are less than 0.05% of the population in DC, says the District's director of public health.
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) July 29, 2021
The 7-day rolling average for coronavirus deaths in Washington D.C. is zero, btw. https://t.co/rojPX1VZyE
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) July 29, 2021
The Delta wave "emergency" is not in DC, at least not yet. It may never be, if the UK trajectory is any guide. The nation's capital is heavily vaccinated, hospitals are not crowded, and breakthrough infections are scarce and very mild. And yet, in another rejection of science and sound risk assessment, "emergency" measures are back in place, including for people who are at exceptionally low risk: The vaccinated and children. Even if you are alarmed by every word of this WaPo story being circulated, Delta in the US is the same as Delta in the UK -- vaccines are effective in both countries, and the encouraging curve across the pond should apply here. Look at this. And even if you're spooked by the Provincetown breakthrough outbreak, maybe you shouldn't be. The vaccines work very well and are incredibly safe, but it's increasingly hard to argue against critics who say government officials either don't really believe in the vaccines, or they have a vested and insatiable interest in controlling people's lives. How can that be fully denied at this point? And how does that reality help persuade hesitant people to get the jab?
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If you spend months tying to cajole people into getting vaccinated by telling them they won’t have to wear a mask
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 29, 2021
Then you decide,without providing any scientific data,that even the vaccinated have to mask up again
It starts to feel like this is all about power & control
The expected performances have again resumed, though the president was late in receiving the memo, it seems:
Our @SecDef is vaccinated
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 29, 2021
But he arrives in the Philippines wearing a mask AND a face shield
Embarrassing COVID theatre pic.twitter.com/y0UBYEfqTD
This was yesterday ?? https://t.co/m2fXrsnIPd
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 29, 2021
Nancy Pelosi got the memo, though, and now the Capitol Police have been ordered to arrest House staffers who aren't masked, even if they're vaccinated. Members are subject to discipline for failing to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status. It's nuts. Incidentally, what's the hard data that supposedly justifies the new masking guidance for vaccinated people? It's unclear, with at least part (most?) of the equation being a non-peer reviewed study out of India involving a vaccine not even approved for use in the US (see the WaPo story and Massachusetts outbreak mentioned above for other potential factors). Honestly, it's hard to know what to believe.
?? Update to this:The CDC’s assertion that they have unpublished data showing vaccinated people transmit virus is false
— Alicia Smith (@Alicia_Smith19) July 28, 2021
And that the guidance is based off study showing similar viral load btwn vax and unvax’d,which has major flaws as noted in thread above https://t.co/0KxlMlNrDD pic.twitter.com/Mi8WfLqKoN
I know people have been saying it as a joke, but the CDC Director is currently among the biggest sources of Covid misinformation in the country. https://t.co/Wp1bYbABZd
— AG (@AGHamilton29) July 29, 2021
No biggie, just the CDC and NIH admitting they have no evidence of the recommendation they're making regarding masking the vaccinated pic.twitter.com/3qAqzfiVYv
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 29, 2021
I'll leave you with yet another reminder that the overwhelming issue on case surges is not vaccinated people, Fauci's latest howler, and some weaselly wavering from a union boss on reopening schools. Good times:
“Of the 271 total COVID patients in the surveyed ICUs, approximately 94%, were unvaccinated against COVID-19…the 16 vaccinated individuals receiving care in the ICU, almost all suffered from comorbidities and other health problems, such as cancer...” https://t.co/ZU6104BoW4
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 29, 2021
Fauci on the CDC's mask flip-flop: "The CDC hasn’t really flip-flopped at all." pic.twitter.com/ZNvrCesra5
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 28, 2021
“we’re going to try” — and she’s citing the CDC mask decision as she wavers https://t.co/rLVlPvoYtT
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 28, 2021
Also, for all the talk of right-wingers being responsible for low vaccine rates (and there is, of course, truth to that), look who's vehemently opposing Biden's effective mandate on vaccines for federal workers. Here's a clue: They aren'y prototypical MAGA types.
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