The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention – that would be the almighty CDC, you'll recall – has now granted supposedly free Americans permission to discard their face masks, toss out their inhibitions, and go about their normal lives – if - IF - they’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
All hail.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky made the announcement Thursday, just two weeks after her agency had advised that even those who are fully vaccinated continue to wear face masks and socially distance.
"Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing," she said.
"If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic," the CDC director continued. "We have all longed for this moment...That moment has come for those who are fully vaccinated."
BREAKING: CDC Dir. Walensky: "If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic."
— ABC News (@ABC) May 13, 2021
"We have all longed for this moment...That moment has come for those who are fully vaccinated." https://t.co/wjQTAjWb8N pic.twitter.com/6eU70Hi90r
The CDC, and the Biden administration, has come under increasing criticism even from the left for suggesting that even those who have been vaccinated against COVID still observe many of the same public precautions as those who haven’t, a standard that critics have pointed out will muddy the message of vaccines and discourage people from getting a jab that doesn’t seem to change much.
Of course, whether this new guidance will hold permanently is anyone’s guess, given that the CDC has flip-flopped on a number of public messages about masks, vaccinations and travel over the past year. And, if I had to guess, it probably won’t amount to a hill of beans for the millions of Americans who’ve already begun going about their lives sans whatever the CDC’s latest guidance “permits.”
All praise be to our lords and saviors, the federal government.