2. A FEDERAL MASK BAN–WITH SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR EXCEPTIONS–SHOULD BE IMPOSED. DAY ONE, IF POSSIBLE.
I confess that I’ve mused an awful lot about mask-wearing. Bluntly, for me it’s the symbol of what has not only divided this country both politically and morally but has also had a domino effect on the decision-making practices and business failures that have resulted in thousands of folks losing their jobs.
If that sounds a bit far-fetched, it might be because my own journey into employment limbo happened to coincide with the cusp of when everything shut down in March, 2020. My last day at the office was five days before the fateful March 12th series of events amplified by the cancellation of an NBA basketball game involving the recently diagnosed Rudy Gobert as a reaction to the rapidly increasing and broadening reports of diagnosed cases. When I was finally granted the opportunity to retrieve my personal belongings about two weeks later the Sony lot was a ghost town. Offices were empty; I was accompanied by a security guard wearing two masks who handed me a pair of plastic gloves he insisted I wear. There was a 15 minute limit that the guard was intent on making sure I kept to. There was absolutely no one for me to say farewell to; not even the regular security guard at the front desk who I had developed a friendship with. For someone who thrives on human connection, it was a heartbreaking way to conclude my term of employment–cloaked in anonymity “for my own protection”.
Look, at the time I was as compliant as anyone; indeed, I wore my mask; in fact, at the urging of someone close to me at the time, I wore an N 95 respirator. The fact that it was too tight for my fat neck and the build-up of my own mucus in my sinuses that the overly constrictive apparatus was causing was immaterial to me at the time. Heck, if the entire sports world could shut down, it had to be serious. When I got home with my belongings I was greeted with a freezing cold shower from our outdoor garden hose, ordered to strip naked in our thankfully obscured back yard in 45 degree weather. When I’d be allowed to leave our fortress at the crack of dawn to stand in a two-block-long line circling our local Target to purchase as much toilet paper as we were being allowed I’d come back to the same procedure, the bags of groceries I picked up along with the toilet paper left out to the elements long enough for whatever potentially deadly germs I had picked up to dissipate into the air. And, of course, when I was finally allowed to retrieve them I had to wear another pair of plastic gloves.
So maybe my early experience was more than a bit over the top compared to yours. But as the world slowly began to return to something resembling normalcy, and I made some life-changing decisions to improve my specific experiences, the cloud I was living under began to improve. When I finally was able to visit Florida about a year into all of this and saw first-hand how they were living and, more importantly, how happy and healthy absolutely everyone I interacted with was–and I’m including several senior citizens and folks who by all actuarial tables were “high risk”–I became completely convinced of how much overreaction I had been seeing in Los Angeles. And pretty much still do to this day.
I’ve written an awful lot about how the Los Angeles TIMES’ group of hyphenates, spearheaded by an intrepid remote reporter named Rong Gong Lin II, have devoted numerous lengthy and redundant diatribes reinforcing what they perceive as disturbing trends. I had at least three such rants in 2024. But since the election cycle and the fact that lead hyphenate Patrick Soon Chiong is now much more focused on placating politicans, even Rong Gong’s megaphone has been diminished. This past weekend, a more controlled reporter named Susanne Rust provided this update that now conflates the fear-mongering with a few other concerns:
It’s that time of year, when families and friends come together to share their holiday cheer and a few circulating pathogens.
Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco, said people should be on the lookout for the “Big Four”: three respiratory viruses currently moving through the U.S. — influenza, COVID-19 and RSV — and one stomach virus — norovirus.
According to WastewaterScan — an infectious disease monitoring network led by researchers at Stanford and Emory universities, with lab-testing partner Verily, Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences organization — those four viruses are running hot around the nation.
And yesterday TODAY SHOW.com’s Caroline Kee added her own log to the fire:
With New Year’s celebrations around the corner, the United States is poised to see its current winter COVID wave to continue to grow. Rates of the virus have already been increasing in much of the country over the past few weeks.
Some experts are warning this COVID wave, starting later in the year than usual, may turn into a “silent” surge in transmission.
“There’s a good chance that a lot of people are going to get sick in the next couple of weeks and be unaware of it. Most people are not tracking CDC data, and so their only way of knowing whether we’re in a wave is if they’ve gotten sick,” Michael Hoerger, Ph.D., associate professor at Tulane University School of Medicine and public health expert on tracking COVID-19 trends, tells TODAY.com.
Hoerger has even provided his own version of a betting guide, since he has some scratch in this game with his side hustle, as Kee continued:
Hoerger, the director of the Pandemic Mitigation Collective, uses the PMC COVID-19 forecasting model, which projects there could be an average of 900,000 new daily infections by January. The PMC New Year’s Eve forecast estimates that, if no one is testing or isolating, there is a 1 in 4 chance of COVID exposure at a party of 20 and a 1 in 2 chance at a party of 40-50.
But do note that Hoerger’s Twitter/X avatar at least has him rocking a respirator and in fact showing off the latest full-construction model which other rabbit-holers on X are now endorsing and advocating. You’ll find these ranters and reactionaires easier on Elon’s “town square” than Laura Loomer, especially now. The ones that insist that #CovidIsNotOver and that we all should continue to work from home, exclusively order food by delivery and subscribe to streaming services and high quality internet. Just like it was in the spring of 2020 when the world conformed to their standards.
Now you take a look around your environs as I do mine. Do you see people wearing those kind of protective devices? No. You see face diapers, often dangling from chins, arbitrarily being adjusted in case someone wants a sip of water, sometimes covering folks’ noses and sometimes not. It’s as half-assed and disingenous a way to deal with this “pandemic” as ever, and unto itself points out the hypocrisy of those still clamoring for mask mandates.
And such hypocrisy has bled into political discourse, as STAT’s Timmy Broderick wrote on Friday:
Many disabled people have masked consistently in public since the pandemic started. But in 2024, the perception of masks — a tool to protect — changed. As a recent escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict triggered protests across the country, many local and state politicians decried mask wearing as a way for protestors to hide their identities. Two jurisdictions in New York even banned wearing them, and the state’s governor is considering a statewide ban.
THE MARSHALL PROJECT’s Ilica Mahajan penned a lengthy diatribe about this issue, with the rhetoric from those representing the political spectrum ringing louder and more passionately than those from “science”:
“We will not tolerate individuals using masks to evade responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who floated the idea of banning masks on New York City subways. “People should not be able to hide behind a mask to commit crimes.” “Take your mask off. Don’t be a coward,” said Nassau Executive Bruce Blakeman as he signed the county’s ban into law. “Cowards hide their faces,” agreed New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Versus:
While steering clear of weighing in on the mask ban controversy, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends masking as a way to avoid the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. “Wearing a mask is a prevention strategy you can choose to further protect yourself and others that can help lower the risk of respiratory virus transmission, especially if you are at higher risk for severe disease,” CDC spokesperson David Daigle said in a statement.
Look, the CDC and the PMC and any other alphabet soup agency still clinging to relevance might have some more teeth in their argument if they could figure out how to actually get those they’re trying to protect to actually act in a way that can protect them. Seat belt advocates convinced the automobile industry to elicit annoying chimes or not start cars at all if belts weren’t buckled. I doubt there’s a way to do that with masks.
But there is a way to offer a series of mandates that ensure that those that REALLY need it do it PROPERLY and that the rest of us who aren’t dealing with significant comorbidiites and disabilities aren’t consistently being admonished for our right to breathe comfortably.
And that starts with a FEDERAL mask ban with ONLY the following exceptions:
- Only an N 95 respirator or similarly effective model can be worn, and can only be prescribed by a qualified physician.
- Such respirators will be provided free of charge with insurance companies and the federal government picking up the tab.
- Presciptions will only be able to be written if someone tests positive with a PCR test administered by a qualified physician.
No more grey areas. No more “personal choices”. No more flawed data that is merely suggestive, not scientifically conclusive. Nearly five years of this kind of waffling and pussyfooting is more than enough. You want to seriously address this issue once and for all? Set a series of definitive standards and enforce them. Anything else–tough.
By doing this, the money and power grab of agencies and individuals hoping they can be the next Dr. Fauci and company would be kneecapped. Those that are in actual need and not suffering from paranoia from media outlets are protected. And companies coping with ineffective staffing and low morale as a result of remote work can get back to hiring the most qualified people in a particular city and not draw from a limitless talent pool that reduces the odds of someone qualified not being able to get a job.
We know the incoming administration wants to start making decisions day one. I’d contend that making this a priority and superceding the rhetoric, discourse and false support for “freedom of speech” is as crucial to getting things back in order than anything else, and yes, I’m including migrants. Frankly, there’s a lot less logic to that than there is to this.
So there’s my two cents, Donnie and Bobby. Go for it. You might even get me to respect you in the process.
Until next time…