White House Vows to Follow CDC on Masking Despite Washington, DC, Lifting Mandates

The White House will continue to follow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advice on wearing masks, even though Washington, DC, announced plans to lift the masking mandate.

“We are going to follow the CDC guidance,” Deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the White House daily press briefing on Monday. “That’s what we’re going to do.”

President Joe Biden and his staff are expected to wear masks in the building unless they are speaking from a podium, even though the president frequently forgets to put his mask back on after speaking.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Monday the city would lift their indoor mask mandate on March 1 and also lift their vaccine mandate for businesses.

Masks will still be required in the district for schools, childcare facilities, libraries, health care facilities, and on public transportation.

Bowser is one of the last Democrat public officials in major cities to finally dial back mask requirements despite guidance from the CDC.

The White House has repeated the CDC guidance that most of the country should still be wearing masks.

“Our guidance has consistently been this: When you are in a high-transmission area, which is everywhere in the country, you should wear a mask in indoor settings, including schools,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last week, when asked about Democrats bucking the CDC.

Biden has repeated that he would follow the CDC on issues of masking, calling decisions by Democrats to lift the mandates “premature.”

“I’ve committed that I would follow the science, the science as put forward by the CDC and the federal people, and I think it’s probably premature, but it’s a tough call,” he said in an interview with NBC for the Super Bowl.

In some cases, the White House appears more strict about masking.

First Lady Jill Biden wore a mask as young schoolchildren visited the White House for Valentine’s Day on Monday, even though she was outside.

In November, the First Lady hosted a group of children at the White House for a Christmas event and did not wear her mask even though the children were masked.