Dam Breaking? Blue States Starting to Drop School Mask Mandates

My first reaction as I read stories and social media posts about these developments was thank goodness. These kids have suffered enough. My second reaction was these decisions are utterly and indefensibly belated. The data and real-world outcomes have not supported mandatory masking of children for many months at this point, and it's maddening that it's taken this long for some authorities to loosen their grip. My third reaction was to wonder how long it will take officials in various dug-in blue areas to shift their guidance, too. If some of the bluest states are shedding their pointless requirements, why would they keep clinging to this particular form of coercion – especially since it's grown increasingly alienating and is turning into a political liability?

Finally, I asked myself the question Josh Kraushaar poses in a parenthetical aside here:

New Jersey ahead of Virginia. (Will progressives go after Gov. Phil Murphy?)

School Mask Mandate to Be Lifted in New Jersey - The New York Times https://t.co/Ux4QfBusum
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) February 7, 2022

Tribal progressives have gone to war with Glenn Youngkin in Virginia over making masks in schools optional, pretending that it's a grave affront to public safety. They've filed lawsuits. They've suspended kids from class as punishment for listening to their parents. They've issued threats about criminal charges for noncompliance. They are committed to this idiotic, harmful culture war, in which Republicans are the villains, and children are pawns. Union boss Randi Weingarten just voiced solidarity with Chicago schools maintaining useless mask rules, in the face of an Illinois judge's ruling (on that very same day, Weingarten posted photos of herself maskless at an indoor gathering, of course, because what's the point of attaining untouchable leftist privilege if you're not going to flaunt it)?

Like Abrams, Newsom, et al, @rweingarten sees herself as untouchable & flaunts it: pic.twitter.com/RZJbF37BVQ
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 7, 2022

So now what? Will New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy get the Youngkin treatment? Or does the "science" depend on the partisan affiliation of the politician making decisions? And with mask mandates now set to expire at the end of next month in President Biden's home state, will other mask fetishists follow suit? The White House is sticking with forced child masking, for now. Also, it's hard to applaud a vastly-overdue decision that is being delayed further by seven weeks for absolutely no scientific reason:

So what is the scientific basis for waiting to lift the school mask mandate for an additional 1.5 months when schools have less transmission than surrounding communities and kids are by far the lowest risk segment from Covid-19? https://t.co/SE6WbKn6Lk
— AG (@AGHamilton29) February 7, 2022

Connecticut is another domino to fall. Meanwhile, pour one out for the Stacey Abrams campaign, which just decided to play the race card while doubling down on school masking as they do damage control over their candidate's devastating classroom photo-op. She had a chance to take the lead on a data-based and politically-popular approach, but chose to play it exactly wrong. Slow clap: