Fox News host Tucker Carlson called face mask mandates "a sign of obedience and submission" during a Friday night "Tucker Carlson Tonight" monologue reacting to the reintroduction of the indoor mandate in LA County.
The rise of the more transmissible Delta variant as a percentage of overall cases has sparked panic and a call from some to go back to mandates and other restrictions even for those already vaccinated against Covid-19, despite the fact that deaths and hospitalizations remain low and Delta hasn't been proven to be any more deadly than its predecessors.
Residents of California's most populous county will be required to mask up in indoor spaces as of midnight tonight, a step back from the trend since May of relaxing restrictions as coronavirus vaccines have become widely available.
After playing a clip of Los Angeles County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis declaring that indoor masking indoors "must again become a normal practice by all regardless of vaccination status" during a Thursday press conference, Carlson switched to CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky saying in May that vaccinated people do not need to wear masks.
Tucker Carlson on the return of mask mandates: "Maybe the 'experts' and the 'science' have nothing to do with any of this. Maybe once you hand power over your life, they don't want to give it back."
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) July 17, 2021
"They're a sign of obedience and submission. That's why they 'mandate' them." pic.twitter.com/yRoEvrvzmu
Ooh, so the experts have contradictory guidance. Maybe the experts and the science have nothing to do with any of this. Maybe it’s as simple as once you hand power over your life, the intimate details, what you can wear while you're eating for example, whether you can go to church, they don’t want to give it back, and they're not. There are signs tonight that other cities are going to reinstate mask mandates. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo just tweeted that masks should be mandatory because - and we are not making this up - they are a sign of respect and it can prevent the common cold, so why ever take it off? Are they a sign of respect that people were forced to wear them? No. They are a sign of obedience and submission. That’s why they mandate them. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization is warning the third wave of the virus is about to knock out all the progress that vaccines have made. Chaos on the Covid front tonight.
The move by LA County is part of a growing trend to go back on the relaxing of restrictions in the wake of the Delta variant's spread.
