While Muriel Bowser forces Washington, D.C.’s children to mask up in school for eight hours a day and subject businesses to an onerous indoor mask mandate, the mayor has flouted her decree for a third time.
I had hoped that posting a photo of Bowser violating her own mandate at an indoor wedding reception not 24 hours into her ban going into effect would force the mayor to reconsider, but instead, she lied, claiming that she was actively eating and drinking while smearing me as a “right-wing hack” and an anti-vaxxer in the process. I had hoped that posting the video confirming that Bowser had gotten caught and then lied about it would force her to have a little humility, but instead, she publicly posted a photo from yet another event featuring her flouting the rules.
Now, it seems the mayor has no shame, as she has posted yet more documentation proving she cannot and will not abide by the order the rest of us must follow, this time a full-length livestream of her speaking on a panel in the convention center.
2021 National Maternal & Infant Health Summit – DAY 1 https://t.co/oHhyhLZqds
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) September 15, 2021
Everyone understands that a mask mandate for a city that had already eradicated coronavirus deaths was absurd, much less a mask mandate with zero social distancing stipulations. Bars in D.C. are still packed to the brim with maskless customers, yet a yoga studio with full social distancing cannot allow even those who provide proof of vaccination to exercise without a mask. A reasonable person understands that a fully vaccinated room of people is safe regardless of whether someone is actively eating or just giving a speech, but that’s not what the mandate says. The law specifically says that any business or person in an indoor public space such as a convention center must wear a mask unless “giving a speech for broadcast or an audience, provided no one is within six feet of the speaker.” We all have eyes. Bowser has people within 6 feet of her, yet she’s not wearing a mask.
Fully vaccinated people, especially in a place with the herd immunity of D.C., are perfectly safe without a mask indoors. Bowser knows this, and that’s why she repeatedly flouts her own dumb rule.
