Mask mandates are going away everywhere. It is almost as if a memo went out over the weekend of February 5, 2022 to all the people who have had their boot firmly planted on our face that they should switch to sneakers.
I’ll leave it for you to consider what has caused this radical change in ‘science’ over one weekend.
Regardless of the cause, the floodgate opened.
Consider articles describing what has happened this week:
- California will lift the blanket indoor mask mandate.
- New Jersey, Oregon, Connecticut, and Delaware do the same.
- Nevada joins in.
- Los Angeles County slightly relaxes their mask requirements.
- Eight counties in the Bay Area will lift their mask mandate.
Almost fell out of my chair reading one comment in the San Francisco Chronicle article discussed below. Unidentified public health officials are arriving at a conclusion which was achieved by dozens of other states approximately 23 months ago. I will quote the article, because otherwise you would think I’m imagining this:
“…officials say they plan to ease away from legal mandates to dictate behavior and instead trust individuals to make their own health decisions, including whether and when to wear masks.”
Wow. Only took two years to make that realization. I guess that’s better than never.
Until this month, a trust-the-public attitude was prohibited, with penalty of banishment from the public square for anyone who held such a radical, heretical concept. After the weekend, trusting people to make their own decisions is suddenly acceptable.
The New Jersey and Nevada governors also made previously-heretical comments.
More details:
CNN – 2/7/22 – California’s indoor mask mandate will end next week for vaccinated people, governor says – California governor announced the indoor mask mandate would end on February 15. Well, at least for vaccinated people.
School children will still be required to wear masks. The policy might be updated later. Maybe.
One of the advantages for politicians of having lots of statistics floating around is you can pick and choose which ones you like. Today’s illustration of the concept is the governor cited the new infection count dropping by a whopping 65% since the omicron peak. I guess that severe drop means we can dump the masks.
One of the disadvantages for politicians of having lots of statistics around is other people can look at them to see how you cherry picked your numbers.
I have been charting a range of data since shortly after the pandemic began. Let’s look at a few more stats.
On 2/4/22 the seven day infection rate in California was 142 per 100,000. This is down over half from the peak of 304 on 1/16/22.
Amusingly, contrast this with the “we’re all gonna’ die” surge in December 2020 and January 2021 when the seven-day average peaked at 113/100K on 12/20/20 and averaged 89/100K for the month of January 2021.
So with daily infections running 142/100K now compared to a far lower average of 89/100k in January 2021 it’s okay to drop the mask requirement because we are safe, even though daily infections are 50% higher than the prior January.
Right.
The obvious conclusion is the offered explanation of a “65% drop” is a gaslighting rationalization.
Hot Air – 2/8/22 – Four blue states preparing to ditch mask mandates – There isn’t any new “science” behind this. Looks like four state governors and their lackeys picked up on the anger that is building from their brutality against children and the servants of the laptop class.
New Jersey joins Oregon, Connecticut, and Delaware on the list of states that will lift the mask dicktat and other covid restrictions.
Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey actually said, and I quote:
“…we have to learn how to live with COVID.”
Wow.
Until a few weeks ago, that was an obscenity so severe to get a person shadow-banned from most social media, if not shutdown completely. Six months or a year ago, speaking that sentence would result in being called a crazy, conspiracy-theorizing, wacko, koo-koo bird nutjob.
Now it is quite acceptable to utter such an idea in public.
Las Vegas Review-Journal – 2/10/22 – Sisolak ends state mask mandate – Apparently Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak is the another gov who read polling data to show how upset people are with the mask mandates.
In a blinding flash of comprehension, he admitted we will have to figure out how to live with the coronavirus bug. Said awareness has been available to people with higher level cognitive capacity for a year or eighteen months.
The release of the state population into freedom went into effect immediately except for schools, where it went into effect the next day. School districts in the state will be allowed to decide whether to continue masking the group of people who are at lowest risk of infection, hospitalization, and death.
The guidance from CDC calls for masking in areas with high or substantial transmission.
Except for Eureka County with substantial transmission, every county in Nevada is at the high level of transmission.
So what does the Gov do?
Ignore the CDC and with a straight face say he is following the science. Thus he proves supposed “science” is irrelevant to his decision making.
Daily Bulletin – 2/10/22 – LA County on track to loosen outdoor Covid-19 masking rules by Wednesday – Health officials in LA County are following the herd. Sort of.
Mask requirements will be released slightly in a week. Masks will no longer be required for large outdoor events. Until one of several convoluted thresholds is met, indoor masks will still be required in most situations.
A chart of requirements at this moment suggests that children in schools and childcare will only be required to wear masks indoors if state rules require it.
Peering through the several layers of double talk at the state and county level, I think that means school children will still have to wear masks since the requirement has not yet been explicitly lifted at the state level.
Yes, you perceived that correctly. All children in schools have been required to wear masks. Children in daycare, yes, two, three, and four-year-olds, have been required to wear masks indoors.
The requirement for those least likely to be infected, least likely to go to the hospital, and least likely to die will remain in effect.
County health officials warn they reserve the ability to reimpose mask requirements if they wish, based on nothing more than if they perceive or think they see a new variant that is scary or some statistic goes the wrong direction.
San Francisco Chronicle – 2/9/22 –All Bay Area counties except one will lift indoor mask mandate next week – Eight of the nine counties in the California Bay Area join the parade of dropping the indoor mask mandates.
Article points out the relaxed state rules do not apply to schoolchildren from kindergarten through high school.
Already mentioned it, but have to repeat this quote. One or more unidentified public health officials have finally arrived at the conclusion which was achieved by dozens of other governors and public health officials at the start of the pandemic.
I will again quote the article, because otherwise you would think it’s a figment of my imagination:
“…officials say they plan to ease away from legal mandates to dictate behavior and instead trust individuals to make their own health decisions, including whether and when to wear masks.”
Wow. Only took two years.