CDC mask directive has been met with hostility from top Republicans

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SALT LAKE CITY (AFP) – As conservatives rallied on Wednesday, one of the Republican Party’s most prominent rising stars derided new government recommendations calling for widespread use of masks to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

“Didn’t you get the CDC memo?” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis joked to an almost unconvinced audience of activists and lawmakers that thronged an indoor ballroom at a Salt Lake City hotel. “I don’t see you guys complying.”

From Texas to South Dakota, Republican leaders have responded with hostility and defiance to updated masking guidelines from public health officials, who advise even fully vaccinated people to return to wearing masks indoors if they live in areas with high rates of virus transmission. The backlash has reopened the culture war over pandemic restrictions just as efforts to persuade unvaccinated Americans to get vaccines appeared to be making progress.

Encouraged by former President Donald Trump, the response reflects deep resistance among many GOP voters to restrictions aimed at containing the virus that they feel poses only a minimal personal threat. The party is also exploiting growing frustration and confusion about ever-changing rules and guidelines.

But the resistance has real repercussions for a country desperate to get out of the pandemic. Other than vaccinations, there are few tools other than wearing masks and social distancing to contain the spread of the delta variant, which studies have shown is far more contagious than the original strain.

However, many Republican leaders are blocking preventative measures, which could make it difficult to tame outbreaks of the virus in conservative societies.

At least 18 states, led by Republicans, have moved to ban vaccine passports or to ban public entities from requiring proof of vaccination. Some have prevented schools from requiring any student or teacher to wear a mask or be vaccinated.

In its announcement, the CDC cited disturbing new research — yet unpublished — that found that fully vaccinated people can spread the delta variant just as well as the unvaccinated, exposing those who did not receive the injection or who were at risk in a machine. immunity. The CDC has also recommended that all teachers, staff, and students wear masks inside school buildings, regardless of vaccination status.

The reaction was quick.

“We will not go back. We will not hide our children,” declared Trump, who routinely questioned the value of wearing masks and rarely wore one in public when he was in office. “Why don’t Democrats trust science?”

Missouri Governor Mike Parson called the new guidance “disappointing and troubling” and “inconsistent with the overwhelming evidence surrounding the effectiveness and proven results of vaccines.”

He, like others, cautioned that this measure would undermine efforts to encourage vaccine restrictors to get the vaccines by casting further doubt on the efficacy of approved vaccines, which have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of death or hospitalization, despite a breakthrough. cases.

Last week, White House officials reported that vaccination rates were on the rise in some states where COVID-19 cases were rising, as more Republican leaders pleaded with their constituents to put lingering doubts aside and get the shots to protect themselves. This includes Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, who has appealed to unvaccinated residents, saying they have “let us down.”

“This self-relapse encourages skepticism and reluctance to receive vaccines at a time when the goal is to prevent serious illness and death from COVID-19 through vaccination,” Parsons wrote on Twitter. “This decision only reinforces fear and further division among our citizens.”

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who has banned mask and vaccine mandates in his state, echoed the announcement “unfortunately it will only lower confidence in the vaccine and create more challenges for public health officials — people who have worked tirelessly to increase vaccination rates.”

In his speech on Wednesday, DeSantis specifically targeted the CDC’s call for children to wear masks in class.

“It is not healthy for these students to sit there all day, 6-year-olds in kindergarten covered in masks” — although there is no evidence that wearing masks is harmful to children older than infancy, he said.

And in South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem called on the CDC to change its stance on hiding “again.” She said those concerned about the virus can get vaccinated, wear a mask or stay home, but that “changing CDC guidelines does not help ensure public confidence.”

On Capitol Hill, some Republicans revolted after the Capitol attending physician sent a memo telling members that masks must be worn again indoors at all times.

The change led to a round of insults, with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a “moron” after McCarthy tweeted, “The threat to return the masks is not a science-based decision, but one conjured up by liberal government officials.” who want to continue to live in a permanent epidemic situation.”

The mandate also led to an angry confrontation, with Representative Maxine Waters, D-Calif., orally attacking Representative Burgess Owens, D-Utah, who walked out of the House chamber and walked in front of her without a face covering.

Conservatives were also forced to vote to adjourn the chamber in protest of the mandate, which was defeated mostly on partisan lines.

“We have a crisis on our border, and we’re playing football with mask mandates in the people’s house,” said Representative Chip Roy, R-Texas, the movement’s sponsor. The American people are tired of it. They want to come back to life. They want to go back to work. They want to go back to school without forcing their children to wear masks.”

The average number of new COVID-19 cases in the country is around 62,000 per day, and the vast majority of those who are hospitalized and die have not been vaccinated. As of Sunday, 69% of American adults had received a single dose of the vaccine, and 60% had been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Last year, early in the pandemic, US public health officials told that masks provide little protection against the virus (and can increase the risk of infection). The guidance was motivated by a lack of knowledge about how the new virus is spreading and a desire to provide limited supplies of masks to medical workers. But the CDC quickly changed course and advised Americans to wear masks indoors and outdoors if they are within 6 feet (1.8 meters) of each other.

Then in April of this year, with vaccination rates soaring sharply, the agency eased its guidelines, saying fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks outdoors unless they are among large crowds of strangers. In May, the guidelines were relaxed further, saying that people who are fully vaccinated can safely stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.

Subsequent CDC guidelines said that people who were fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks in schools either.

On Wednesday, Karen Jean-Pierre, deputy White House press secretary, defended the changes, saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “did exactly what it was supposed to do.”

“The CDC has had to adapt to the virus, and unfortunately, because not enough Americans were vaccinating, they had to introduce new guidelines to help save lives,” she said.

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Colvin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Alan Fram in Washington, Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri, and Alexandra Jaffe on Air Force One contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to omit a false reference to Alabama banning schools from requiring masks. The state allows local school districts to make this decision.

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