On Tuesday night, the Capitol physician announced that a mask mandate would be reimposed for vaccinated and unvaccinated people alike in the U.S. House (but not in the Senate, which is part of the same Capitol building, because science).
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said that the mask mandate for vaccinated people was “not based on science.” House speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to McCarthy’s comment by saying on Wednesday: “He’s such a moron.”
A couple hours later, Pelosi attended her weekly press conference, where she wore a mask up to the podium but then proceeded to speak for 20 minutes unmasked.
Pelosi brings back "hygiene theater" to the House.
She walked up to podium with mask on, then took it off to talk for 20 minutes at her weekly press conference. pic.twitter.com/X36zVJxesM
— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) July 28, 2021
Mask mandates may indeed be foolish: Why should we care about COVID cases if the vaccines protect the vaccinated from death and serious illness? If we embrace mask mandates for vaccinated people now, will the mandates be here forever?
But if wearing a mask still serves any purpose at all, isn’t the most important time to wear one when someone is speaking?