The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally recognized reality with guidance stating that vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks. But some members of the “party of science” just can’t quit the masks, no matter how strained their logic is.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is one such Democrat, declaring that she will continue to wear a mask indoors and outdoors even though she has been fully vaccinated. She wants the CDC to “clarify” its new guidance, as if there were any question what the CDC said. But Lightfoot, at least, makes it sound like she won’t continue heavy-handed mask mandates. The same can’t be said for some Democratic governors.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has already ordained the arbitrary date of June 15 to be the state’s reopening day. Californians, in Newsom’s mind, need four weeks to “prepare for this change.” More than half of all Californians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 39% being fully vaccinated.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has made the same decision, though New Jersey has even better vaccination numbers than California. Murphy said the state’s indoor mask mandate has a “couple more weeks on the clock,” not for any discernible reason other than Murphy doesn’t “want to get burned.”
We knew that vaccines dramatically lower the possibility of infection or serious symptoms well before President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci finally decided to stop pretending otherwise. They, and the CDC, were late to the party. But there is no longer an excuse for Democrats such as Newsom or Murphy. They haven’t earned the benefit of the doubt either.
Newsom’s excessive lockdowns couldn’t prevent a surge in coronavirus cases, and his pandemic response pales in comparison to that of big-state GOP counterparts such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Murphy doesn’t have a great track record of defying experts in his decision-making: He ignored the warnings of nursing home administrators in March 2020 about placing COVID-19-positive patients in nursing homes. New Jersey had one of the highest death rates throughout the pandemic.
The pandemic is winding down. Mask mandates, regardless of how you felt about that during the pandemic, serve no purpose anymore. Vaccinated individuals have nothing to fear from people not wearing masks. The unvaccinated have made their choices. There’s no reason for these restrictions to carry on into the summer, especially from members of the self-proclaimed “party of science.”
