An uptick in the number of cases of COVID and other respiratory illnesses has sparked a return to mask mandates in some areas of the country.
Sandy Hook National Park in New Jersey as well as many healthcare facilities in states like New York, California, Illinois and Massachusetts have recently announced a reinstated mask policy despite a lack of evidence that masks are effective against the virus.
A report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) about a rise in COVID cases in Monmouth County led to the decision by the New Jersey state park to reinstate the mask mandate.
“Visitors will be required to wear a mask inside buildings at the New Jersey national park. Masks are mandatory in the Sandy Hook visitors center as well as any other building where events or tours are held.” https://t.co/iLIws8awGx pic.twitter.com/hESEf4lTBI
— Anthony LaMesa (@ajlamesa) January 16, 2024
Masking to visit the outdoors. Ludicrous.
— Kevin T. O’Brian (@RMCruz256011235) January 17, 2024
“New Jersey is currently one of the states with the highest rates of COVID test positivity. According to CDC data from the week through January 6, New Jersey, along with U.S. territories Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, has higher test positivity than anywhere else in the country, with 15.8 percent of tests coming back positive in the first week of 2024,” Newsweek reported. “Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut trail closely behind with test positivity rates of 15.5 percent.”
All 11 of the public hospitals in New York City, 30 health centers, along with five long-term care facilities are once again requiring masks, according to New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan.
“What we don’t want is staffing shortages, right? When we saw the omicron wave in 2022, the biggest issues were not only people getting sick, but that we had a lot of frontline health workers, they were out with COVID,” Vasan told WABC TV.
And it is again only happening during election years…
— Karly (@DepravedAngel) January 17, 2024
Berkshire Health Systems in Massachusetts joined the growing list of those reinstating masking while in California, all licensed healthcare facilities are once again being required by Los Angeles County to enforce masking policies.
“Cook County Health, which encompasses Chicago, and Endeavor Health in the Chicago suburbs, last month started requiring masks again, after the Illinois Department of Public Health asked hospitals to step up, opens new tab mitigation efforts in several areas, including facility-wide masking,” Reuters reported.
With the latest notice of the New Jersey park mask mandate, social media users reacted on X to slam the return of the policies and to remind that this was never going to actually go away.
As ALWAYS known- major predictor for any viral transmission is length of exposure and proximity to source. This mandate is not only useless, but once again sows major distrust in our public health systems. @davidzweig @houmanhemmati https://t.co/yTDmVgla8s
— Megan Martin MD, MPH (@Megmd514) January 16, 2024
Executive Order 13991, part of the “100 days of masking.” I am astonished that this EO is still in effect in 2024.
— Mildly Annoyed Red Guy (@LifeDtf) January 16, 2024
They are never going to admit it, are they? Masks are useless when the microscopic holes in the masks are much, much larger than the microscopic virus.
“But we have to DO something!” So this is what we will do. ♀️— Mary K (@MadeMeJoin2Read) January 16, 2024
The masks that don’t work? Never have? That no study shows they have any effect? Those masks?
— Tom Raymond (@TomRaym63158593) January 17, 2024
But… that’s stupid. Those blue papery masks are useless.
Even Fauci admitted that.
— (@KristineAz) January 17, 2024
Those masks will save MILLIONS of lives!
Oh.
Wait.
Nevermind . . . . pic.twitter.com/wT3ewVWSRm
— Rebel A. Cole (@RebelACole) January 16, 2024
This is so dumb.
Even if you think masks work (they don’t) – as you go about your day everywhere else unmasked – the contribution for forcing people to mask in this one location would be completely useless.
The only point is to virtue signal.
— SonsOfRationality (@RationalSons) January 16, 2024
Sorry chaps I burned all my masks when Biden was elected and he said he would “shut down the virus” ♀️
— Captain Cook’s Wife (@cptcookswife) January 16, 2024
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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