Fauci and the CDC have gone back and forth on masks multiple times but did so most crucially at the outset of the pandemic and so created mass confusion on the efficacy of masks. When Fauci’s emails leaked it confirmed that he believed they were ultimately useless for protecting against inhaling the virus. In the email he advises a colleague that they don’t need a mask at some event they were attending.

Science on the matter says much of the same (though it may reduce transmission distance from an infected mask-wearer, think like how it would muffle particles from a sneeze or cough)

So why the mask mandates? and why is that the CDC’s entire response to this uptick in cases? Why not a second pseudo-lockdown (“lockdown” wasn’t really a thing in America)?

Is it part of some nefarious plan to obstruct our breathing and weaken our lungs in the middle of pandemic of a respiratory virus??

Is it the first step to manufacture consent to transition our society slowly but surely into sharia law??

Is it so that our wittle tiny babies don’t see ppls faces and develop psychological disorders that will disintegrate the family unit??

(i’ve heard all of these from ppl)

No you idiots!! It’s The Economy, Stupid! The great United States of America was never gonna shut down it’s economy and use government resources to provide for its citizens like what worked so well in South Korea or New Zealand or Thailand or wherever.

It’s all about passing the buck - in a very American way. The mask mandate is meant to create the illusion of the State actually doing something in response to the virus. It passes the responsibility of controlling the pandemic onto the citizenry. In lieu of government providing material assistance or placing restrictions on travel or commerce, they’ve decided to put the onus of stopping all of this squarely on the individual.

like the vaccine, they’re giving us a choice to make. all the while the mass media/politicians are setting the discourse and changing these options from a medical decision to a wholly political decision. it creates that classic binary rift in American society and we all get dumber, poorer, and sicker for it. all the US has left are the culture wars

tl;dr: the gov failed us, masks are for the illusion of a pandemic response but ultimately places the blame on the individual which is doomed to fail especially when given the instigative mass media trying to divide us

that said, i’ll wear a mask if i gotta. what choice do i have? it’s barely an issue

not wearing a mask isn’t the hill i’m dying on

Facts

We’re back to square one lmaoooooo

Testing asymptomatic people are why the case numbers keep "surging"

How are we over a year into the pandemic and we're still considering asymptomatic people a disease "case" when the dictionary definition of disease specifies symptoms