D.C. to drop indoor mask and vaccine mandate
Please note the language D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser uses when saying mask mandates, although being dropped by the city on March 1st will not be dropped for schools until their vaccination rates are much higher for the school age population.
This gesture clearly appears to being using the masking of children as a method to coerce parents into taking them to get these shots. The shots have been shown to be ineffective against circulating variants and be detrimental to children’s health. As the DC case numbers and hospitalization have crashed over the past weeks, correspondingly, so has the city’s efforts at vaccination.
D.C. will drop its indoor vaccine and mask mandates in the coming weeks, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Monday.
Driving the news: The indoor vaccine mandate, required of restaurants, gyms and concert venues, will be lifted on Feb. 15, the same day D.C. originally had required people to be fully vaccinated to meet the mandate. The city was the only place to impose such a mandate in the region.
- The mask mandate will be lifted on March 1, but masks will still be required in some places, including schools, congregate settings, nursing facilities, childcare facilities and libraries.
The big picture: D.C. decision to drop its mandates follows other major cities across the U.S. as the Omicron surge subsides.
When it comes to schools, Bowser said a decision on lifting mask mandates isn’t likely to come anytime soon as vaccines aren’t yet available for young children.
- Pfizer, which is developing a vaccine for children under the age of five, delayed asking for FDA authorization last week.
- On Feb. 26, D.C. will also sunset its public firehouse COVID-19 testing sites, which have been in place since 2020. Residents can still get tested as D.C.’s COVID centers and libraries.
What they’re saying: “We’re in a much better place now,” Bowser said Monday, noting cases are down more than 90% since the Omicron wave’s height.
- Bowser rejected the notion the move was premature and said that D.C. must be nimble.
- “I don’t think any of us can say here that there won’t be other variants that would require us to do something different. So just like when Omicron presented itself, we adjusted our approach,” she said.
The other side: Council Chair Phil Mendelson would prefer for community spread levels to drop lower before lifting mandates, spokesperson Lindsey Walton told Axios.
- “He’s not heard complaints about the vaccine mandate,” she added. The office does not plan any legislative action at this time.
State of play: DC Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt urged people to get boosters, saying the shots play a role in increasing protection against variants of COVID-19 and preventing severe disease and death.
- Yes, but: Nesbitt acknowledged that just 23% of D.C.’s eligible population has gotten a booster.