One of the first things President Joe Biden will do to fight coronavirus is require masks in federal buildings and on federal property, because, well, let’s not mince words with anti-mask Trumpublicans:
Quite frankly, it was shocking to see members of the Congress while the Capitol was under siege by a deadly mob of thugs refusing to wear a mask while they were in secure locations. I’m so proud of my congressmen right here in the state of Delaware. Lisa Blunt Rochester, trying to hand out masks when people are lying on the floor, huddled up.
And Republican colleagues refusing to put them on. What the hell is the matter with them? It’s time to grow up. Result? At least four members of Congress to date, included a cancer survivor, now have COVID-19 who were in those rooms. For God’s sake, wear a mask, if not for yourself, for your loved ones, for your country [President-Elect Joe Biden, speech on national coroanvirus plan, as transcribed by Rev.com, 2021.01.15].
Biden will also support and protect transportation workers and the traveling public by requiring masks on planes, trains, and buses crossing state lines. Biden’s plan will likely enjoy the support of a large majority of health- and neighbor-conscious Americans.
With the White House actively contradicting her anti-mask posing, unhealthy and unneighborly Governor Kristi Noem will probably have her Beltway propaganda team belt out some more anti-science bushwah saying Biden’s masks (and the 2024 aspirant will brand them as such) don’t work. But recent research is on President-Elect Biden’s side.
This December Annals of Internal Medicine analysis of college campus mitigation strategies says mask requirements are one of the cheapest and most effective tactics we can use to reduce coronavirus infections:
We examined the value of social distancing, mask-wearing policies, and routine laboratory testing of asymptomatic students and faculty. We had 4 major findings. First, even if campuses remain closed, there will likely be many infections among faculty from the community and among students who return to live off campus in and around the college town. Second, although minimal social distancing (such as canceling large college-sponsored events) would reduce infections, and extensive social distancing with hybrid education would lead to even fewer infections, a mandatory mask-wearing policy alone would reduce infections the most. Combining a mask-wearing policy with extensive social distancing would prevent 87% of infections among students and faculty and would cost $170 per infection prevented ($49 200 per QALY saved) [emphasis mine; Elena Losina, Vlai Leifer, Lucia Millham, et al., “College Campuses and Covid-19 Mitigation: Clinical and Economic Value,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 2020.12.21].
This study is just part of the great mass of formal research and lessons from experience that explain why universal masking figures prominently in the American College Health Association recommendations for coronavirus prevention on campus:
Multilayered mitigation strategies with universal masking, physical distancing of 6 feet or more, and good hand hygiene accompanied by a coordinated public health strategy of robust testing, contact tracing, and expeditious isolation and quarantine processes are the most effective measures for decreasing the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
Most campus outbreaks have been related to small and large gatherings without masking and without physical distancing that have occurred in bars, in on- and off-campus residences, and in Greek housing.
…There is little evidence to show secondary transmission is occurring either student-to-student or student-to-faculty member in instructional settings where everyone is wearing masks and proper distancing is maintained [American College Health Association, “Considerations for Reopening Institutions of Higher Education for the Spring Semester 2021,” 2020.12.29].
Masks work against coronavirus. President Joe Biden is going to do things that work. After a year of American carnage, what a wonderful change for our country!
It’s time to grow up, Kristi. For our sake, not to mention the sake of whatever God you say you believe in, wear a mask.
You are free to wear as many masks as you like .. I have a medical condition that prevents me from wearing.
Forcing me to disclose this medical condition is punishable by a fine of something like $70,000
I expect many such approaches in the coming months.
The boomers are passing away in record numbers .. it was a function of time and physics, and had very little to do with China’s little trick to get caught up on their homework.
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I’m not an expert here, but I’m pretty sure good-faith efforts to comply with public health measures during a pandemic do not constitute a HIPAA violation.
If someone is completely unable and unwilling to wear a Covid-19 mask in public until we have the pandemic under control, then sadly that person should probably stay isolated at home until the all-clear is given. Claiming a medical condition doesn’t give anyone a constitutional right to spread plague to his fellow citizens.
Mr. S, as you state you are not a medical or legal expert on this issue. Mr. Dale is free to go mask-less, as he sees fit, anywhere within the Great State of South Dakota. I’m just sayin…
Although, you could be right, sir, that it would be best if Mr. Dale stayed home a bunch more. The 5 Gs cannot permeate his home bunker as much as they do the walls of the fine restaurants and beverage mongers of Spearfish.
Interesting. What part of the HIPAA law states that individuals are permitted to violate public health regulations if they feel like it?
johnny boy, do masks interfere with the signal from your tin foil hat?
Mister g I must admit when it comes to gauche your on it.
covid kills, masks don’t, next question.
drumpfism isn’t a medically acknowledged ailment in any world, that I am aware of. Neither is grudzillawikiwaki.
What exact condition have you got that prevents you from wearing a mask as I have found nothing on the internet that backs your assertion?
Chris, John Dale’s spectacular misreading of HIPAA is simpler than that. HIPAA applies to entities that transmit protected health information under DHS standards and their business associates. It does not cover businesspeople who say, “No mask, no entry,” hear John’s whining about his no-mask condition, and say, “Sure, wise guy, prove it. Show us your diagnosis, or you’re staying outside.”
And John still has a choice: he can volunteer his information or he can turn around and go home. No fine for anyone.
Plus, the maximum penalty for a HIPAA violation by a covered entity is $50K per incident, with a maximum of $1.5M per violation category per year.
It’s time to grow up. For Gaia’s sake, wear your mask or stay home.
grudznick masks up when I want to go get a fancy breakfast made by good breakfast cooks. Mr. H. is righter than right that if I did not want to comply with the face shields, well then by golly I should stay at home and eat my own breakfasts.
But I can still roll around the city park unmasked, if I choose. The government has not taken that right away from grudznick just yet. But let me roll into a 7-11 with a clown mask and a few of my right-to-carry friends, and let’s see what the people and the cops say about masking. I’m just sayin…
John Dale, being stupid is not a known medical condition, although, it is a prerequisite to being a trumper.
I still do not understand John Dale’s position that he has some absolute right to make others sick. That is not taking responsibility for one’s self at the highest level. What is it about “We the people” that you Rand Conservatives hate so much?
trump sent invites to his “farewell kick in the backside” on Wednesday. John Dale won’t be there because…they require masks…. Who knew they would follow the Biden mandate? Poor Johnny cakes, always the bridesmaid….
You know you can now go maskless in North Dakota just like in South Dakota. North Dakota got tired of South Dakota catching and passing them with the covid death toll. It will be more even from now on.
John Dale
Legitimate medical condition, no problem and I could care less about it.
That doesn’t prevent you from wearing a face shield, minimizing your public exposure to the rest of us to prevent possible spread in the event you are positive and don’t know it, ordering necessities online, and other thoughtful options.
” require masks in federal buildings and on federal property’. I don’t believe john dale can go maskless anywhere he wants in South Dakota, grudz. When you deal with simple minds, you need to be more specific,
Grudzilla, you lose again, too still yet.
. With mask-wearing mandates still in place in much of the country, the CDC says a costume mask is not a suitable substitute for a cloth mask.
Show up in a clown mask with a weapon and your hide is likely apt to be tacked up on someone’s garage wall.
People just need to ignore the whiners, they are basically just a bunch of MAGA crybabies. If you have a genuine medical diagnosis documented by your doctor, John Dale, then I am sure accommodations can be made. It’s not the end of the world and please continue going to your grief group sessions. It’s not good to be skipping them so much.
The first thing I thought when I read Biden’s mandate is that it is so nice to finally have sane leadership again at the White House instead of hate, insanity and division.
It would be well-earned comeuppance for maskless Kristi to be turned away at many doors, along with
the rest of her arrogant, selfish ilk…
Since I have found no affliction on the internet that says afflicted persons can’t wear a mask, magats are going to have to couch their inability to read and follow directions as some form of religious objection because religious freedumb.
State governments that suck the teat of federal taxpayers to balance their budget, are really federal property. So every building that receives an SBA loan or other subsidies, should follow the mandate rule. If your business has no federal debt, then you can invite John Dale, who I’m pretty sure is on that same teat, to go mask less.
No mask, no stimulus money.
You get Covid because you were maskless, you pay for the medical treatment.
The only medical condition I can think of whereby masks are rendered useless is death itself.
Just sayin
The maskless are drooling idiots, just deal with it. Wear yours and avoid the stores that let them in, simple.