Biden Demands New Mask Mandates as Cases Rise in States That Already Have Mask Mandates
President Joe Biden pleaded with cities and states with no mask mandates to change course on Monday, but a simple look at case data for some states shows Biden’s words were based on no scientific evidence — none.
When addressing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky’s fear-mongering sense of “impending doom” over another wave of COVID infections, Biden issued a plea: please reinstate your mask mandates. Pretty please.
“The CDC expressed earlier today: This is not the time to lessen our efforts. That’s what [Walensky’s] said. We could still see a setback in the vaccination program. And most importantly, if we let our guard down now, we could see a virus getting worse, not better,” Biden said, according to an official White House transcript of his Monday comments.
Biden then laid out directives for how to curtail new infections, the first of which is his administration’s “intensive work with vaccine manufacturers and distribution efforts.”
“By getting more vaccine supply to states, community health centers, and pharmacies, we can vaccinate the highest-risk Americans more quickly than we already are. And then — and then we make it possible to open up supplies for all adults and to try to beat the renewed spread of this virus,” he said.
Then came the begging, which defied all available case data.
“Second, I’m reiterating my call for every governor, mayor, and local leader to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate,” he said. “Please, this is not politics. Reinstate the mandate if you let it down. And business should require masks as well. The failure to take this virus seriously — precisely what got us in this mess in the first place — risks more cases and more dests [sic] — deaths.”
Biden went as far as to claim that to “mask up” is a “patriotic duty.”
President Biden called on governors and local leaders to reinstate mask mandates to curb any increase in COVID-19 cases as restrictions loosen. https://t.co/PCXd4V3aW0 pic.twitter.com/EIzBRueTqT
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) March 29, 2021
But how are states with mask mandates doing as opposed to states which allow their people to live freely? Let’s look at some anecdotal evidence using coronavirus case information collected by The New York Times.
Texas doesn’t have a mask mandate, for example. On Monday, the state reported a weekly average of 3,871 new infections. What was that number four weeks before — at the beginning of the month? On March 1, the Lone Star State reported a seven-day average of 7,693 cases.
That’s a dramatic decrease. The cases have further declined since the state lifted its mandate on March 10. Texas reported 5,350 cases on that date, and the number of reported infections has decreased almost daily since.
Now, let’s look at Michigan, which on March 29 reported a weekly average of 5,117 new cases.
Four weeks prior, on March 1, the state reported a seven-day average of 1,349 cases. Michigan has a strict mask mandate. Why are cases going up so drastically?
Is this a tale of two states relying on purely anecdotal data? Let’s compare two more states — one with a strict mask mandate and one with no mandate at all.
On Monday, Florida, which has no mask mandate, reported a seven-day average of 5,167 new infections. What was that number four weeks before? On March 1, Florida reported a seven-day average of 5,428 cases.
Another decrease.
Now, let’s look at New York, which on March 29 reported a seven-day average of 10,033 new cases.
Four weeks prior, on March 1, the Empire State reported a seven-day average of 7,476 cases. New York has a strict mask mandate. Why have the cases gone up, despite the mask mandate?
The more the anomalies continue, the more you compare states with mask mandates versus those without them. While anecdotal, and not taking into account people who voluntarily wear masks and who have taken the vaccine, the point is clear: Forcing people with proclamations to wear masks has had no effect on case numbers in the above-mentioned states and others.
States which force masks are actually seeing an increase in cases, while those without such mandates are seeing their numbers plummet.
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Biden’s call to action was for show, which is not to be unexpected. This is a for-show presidency led by Dr. Anthony Fauci parading around in his two masks, despite himself having been vaccinated.
Biden’s call for states to reinstate mask mandates is nonsense, and should be ignored by anyone bold enough to look at readily available data which is collected and shared by the left-wing New York Times.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.