It was first 15 days to slow the spread. Then it was 15 months to stem the tide.
In one of his first moves in office, he issued a federal mask mandate via executive order. Naturally, he couldn’t even abide by his own mask mandate for hours before he violated it himself.
Now, Biden is moving up his 100-day window for all of us wearing masks to a full year.
Pres. Joe Biden says he’s keeping his mask on during his remarks to NIH staff, after consulting Dr. Collins and Dr. Fauci.
“You know that wearing this mask through the next year here can save lives, a significant number of lives,” Biden says. https://t.co/fcHZLdvql2 pic.twitter.com/nAaDmxbB40
— ABC News (@ABC) February 11, 2021
The reaction to this obvious moving of the goalposts was swift and fierce.
🥅🥅🥅 shift detected 🥅🥅🥅
We have moved from a 100 day plan to "the next year"
🥅🥅🥅 shift detected 🥅🥅🥅https://t.co/OgyDtca2jh
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.substack.com (@JordanSchachtel) February 11, 2021
Man. I voted and like the guy. But he keeps moving the goal posts. NO ONE is gonna wear a mask a year from now . No one .
— Southpaw (@liltopper) February 11, 2021
https://twitter.com/JenerationSnark/status/1360012289013932034
The science is not “settled” that masks even work to prevent the spread among the general public. There is no strong evidence that such masks or lockdowns even slow the spread, in terms of cross-national or state-level data.
The viral pandemic exploded in America’s blue states, regardless of mask mandates, while red states that did not have mask mandates compare very favorably. And now that we are seeing a seasonal spike in flu-related mortality (although it is suggested that the common flu has “disapppeared”) we are seeing a massive drop off in infection rates and hospitalizations.
US with the steepest drop in new cases since the pandemic began. pic.twitter.com/a865IKf0b7
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) February 11, 2021
Most importantly, deaths also down pic.twitter.com/aYrylk7oF1
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) February 11, 2021
The rates are also dropping in the U.K. and across many countries in Europe.
https://twitter.com/labby_dog_farm/status/1359903761649532931
The COVID rates are also declining globally:
America is not out of the woods yet with COVID-19, but if the trend continues to plummet consistent with season cyclicity, it will be due more to the natural course of a pandemic that typically lasts 15 months-18 months, and the herd immunity sped along by a successful vaccine, than it will be due to any masks, whether single, double, or additional.
"*" indicates required fields
OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion.