Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the coming week will reportedly announce another change to its masking guidance.
Despite the unchanging science of coronavirus transmission, the CDC is expected to create a new standard on masking guidance, “basing it on the level of severe disease and hospitalizations in a given community,” NBC News reported.
On Monday, the White House confirmed it would continue to abdicate its political masking guidance to so-called health experts and unelected bureaucrats. “We are going to follow the CDC guidance,” deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “That’s what we’re going to do.”
NBC News noted the White House is worried the changing guidance may be viewed as a result of “political pressure on the agency.”
Biden’s approval on pandemic management has fallen in recent months, according to a CNN poll. Moreover, a plurality of Americans say the pandemic is mostly ended. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated the nation is heading out of the “full-blown pandemic” chapter.
Politico’s National Tracking Poll of February 12-13 lists 49% of respondents in favor of rescinding mask mandates, with 43% stating that it is “too early” for states to rescind the mandates. A January Politico poll revealed a majority of Democrats — 65 percent — still wanted mask mandates in place.
The potential pivot from the CDC comes while many Democrat-controlled states have bucked the CDC’s health recommendations and have begun lifting some mask mandates.
“COVID-19 cases have dropped by more than 90%, and there has been a 95% reduction in hospitalizations since the height of Omicron,” Washington, DC, Mayor Bowser explained Monday, giving reasons for the change in masking requirements.
Last week, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) ripped Democrats for changing their masking rules based on political science instead of changing science.
“Sometimes I hear the phrase, the science changed. The science hasn’t changed,” he said. “What’s changed is that there’s an election coming and Democrats have seen the polling on this question.”
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