Perspectives: States Lifting Mask Mandates Clash With CDC Recommendations
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Federal COVID-19 masking guidance is at odds with new rules in many states — regardless of whether the state is led by a Republican or Democrat.
California, New York and a number of other Democrat-led states announced plans this week to drop some or all COVID-19 mask mandates, and nearly every state in the U.S. now plans to end mask mandates by the end of March. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still recommends masks indoors in areas of high COVID-19 transmission, and CDC director Rochelle Walensky said this week that masks should still be worn "essentially everywhere in the country in public indoor settings." The White House has not said whether it will extend the federal mask mandate for public transit, trains, airplanes, and airports that is set to expire on March 18.
Perspectives from left-rated voices often framed the new opposition to mask mandates as a product of Democrats playing into nationwide feelings of pandemic fatigue heading into the 2022 midterm elections. Coverage from the left also tended to highlight voices who are concerned about mask mandates potentially being lifted too early. Views from right-rated voices typically criticized the lifting of mask mandates as overdue. Coverage from the right usually focused on falling COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, as well as parents, Republican lawmakers and others who are critical of mask mandates. Voices on both sides criticized the Biden administration and the CDC for purportedly being too slow to issue clear, science-backed federal COVID-19 guidance on mask-wearing.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Connecticut Moms Use Social Media to Ignite Nationwide Opposition to School Mask Mandates
Every afternoon when they arrive home from kindergarten, Emma Burnett’s twin five-year-old daughters complain about how difficult it was to breathe in their masks all day.
Burnett, like many moms in Connecticut, was very Covid-19 conscious at first, accepting the state restrictions as a necessary evil to combat the spread of an ominous disease.
But as the Delta wave came and went in the fall of 2021, vaccine uptake soared, and scientific data supporting school masking started to dwindle, all while the teachers’ unions continued to insist that kids had to cover their faces...
From the Left
In some blue states, masks are coming off -- but not everyone is ready
In some liberal states, masks are coming off -- but not everyone is ready.
Governors in New Jersey, California, Delaware, Connecticut and Oregon have all said that they are lifting masking requirements in some indoor settings. All but California have set deadlines to end required masking in schools. The governors pointed to Covid-19 case rates that have fallen precipitously after Omicron's peak, the hospitalization rates that have stabilized or high vaccination rates in their states.
But the Biden administration still recommends masking indoors -- a position that has long put it in conflict with some Republican-led...
From the Center
CDC Stands Firm on Indoor Masking Mandates, Saying Cases Still Too High
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still standing firm on its indoor mask guidelines, despite several Democratic states, including New York and California, lifting restrictions.
Democrat-run states are now joining forces with their red counterparts, rolling back mask mandates and opposing CDC guidance. California, Oregon, Delaware and New York have announced that they will be lifting their indoor mask mandates soon, joining other Democratic states like Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
New York though, will continue its indoor mask mandate for schools. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is...
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