Reaction to Monday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle concerning federal mask mandates went about as expected.
From the start of the pandemic, mitigation efforts have been the barometer by which individual morality seems to have been measured. Masks and distancing mean consideration and concern. Abandoning either was seen as deadly indifference. Those conclusions may have been true for some time, but the widespread introduction of vaccines and boosters has changed everything.
It’s true that COVID-19 isn’t gone, but we must learn to live with it. Treating each day as no different than the way things were two years ago is to ignore science and its advancements. But many people who are angry at Judge Mizelle’s decision are doing just that. Somehow, striking down a federal mask requirement for public travel is akin to banning masks entirely.
Valerie Jarrett, formerly of the Obama administration, tweeted a photo of herself wearing a mask, stating, “Wearing my mask no matter what non-scientists tell me I can do.” Others claimed it was going to kill children or decried Mizelle as a Trump appointee.
The bottom line: People are still free to wear a mask on planes (and elsewhere) if they so choose. But at this point in the pandemic, with our knowledge and resources, federal mask mandates are unnecessary. Not to mention, the original mandate was set to expire on May 3.
In early March, the Pew Research Center published results related to the pandemic titled, “Two Years Into the Pandemic, Americans Inch Closer to a New Normal.” Unsurprisingly, most people crave a return to normalcy and seem unafraid to head in that direction.
As Pew notes, “Large majorities of adults now say they are comfortable doing a variety of everyday activities, including visiting friends and family inside their home (85%), going to the grocery store (84%), going to a hair salon or barbershop (73%) and eating out in a restaurant (70%). Among those who have been working from home, a growing share say they would be comfortable returning to their office if it were to reopen soon.”
A “new normal,” where people are living, working, attending events, shopping, and seeing friends and family, has arrived. It should be embraced with common sense. A reality that includes vaccines, boosters, therapeutics, and an understanding that time is needed to quarantine and recover from illness offers that common sense. The uproar at the federal mask mandate being vacated does not.
Performative mask-wearing nonsense looks very fringe right now. It’s not mainstream. “Virtuous” activists like Valerie Jarrett and others are not the norm. No one is mocking the virus or those who have died from it. There is just a new balance of the risk-lifestyle calculation.
Personal choice is important. But wearing a mask where that adornment is optional doesn’t mean the wearer is better than those who do not.
