Tipsheet

Inevitable: DC Reimposes Indoor Mask Mandate for Vaccinated People. But Why?

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  July 30, 2021 12:01 PM

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:


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 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?


The expected performances have again resumed, though the president was late in receiving the memo, it seems:


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.

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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:


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.