As this observer predicted last week, The Centers for Disease Control wants Americans to mask up again. The CDC recommends that people in areas with high Delta Variant infections wear masks, even if they’re already vaccinated. Said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC: ‘in rare occasions some vaccinated people infected with the delta variant after vaccination may be contagious.’ The CDC also calls for masking children and staff in schools this autumn. Masks are once again required in the White House and on Capitol Hill, and the Biden Administration is requiring vaccines for all Federal workers.
The CDC and the White House can issue all the mask guidelines they want, but these are merely guidelines. Neither has the power to enforce them on anyone outside the Federal government. That power lies with the states. Furious Republican governors vow there will be no new lockdowns or mask mandates. In response to the new CDC guidelines, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey tweeted: ‘Arizona does not allow mask mandates, vaccine mandates, vaccine passports or discrimination in schools based on who is or isn’t vaccinated. We’ve passed all of this into law, and it will not change.’ Florida Governor Ron Destantis, who has resisted mask mandates and lockdowns for months, is adamant that Florida will return to neither. His press secretary, Christina Pushaw told Fox News, ‘There is no indication that areas with mask mandates have performed any better than areas without mask mandates. In fact, this policy could actually backfire.’ Texas Governor Greg Abbot tweeted, ‘In May, I signed an executive order prohibiting mask mandates by gov't entities. Every Texan has the right to choose whether they will wear a mask or have their children wear masks.’
At the beginning of this week, 57.4 percent of Americans had received at least one vaccine dose. There are huge gaps among demographic groups. Only 25.33 percent of African Americans have received at least one dose, that number stands at 29.39 percent of the Hispanic population. Earlier this month, Dr. Walensky called the Delta Variant surge ‘a pandemic among the unvaccinated.’ President Biden said the same, ‘Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated.’ The data supports their claim, 97% of persons requiring hospitalization are unvaccinated. Here in New Jersey the transmission rate has surged to 1.51. Any number above 1 means the pandemic is spreading. However, deaths remain in the single digits. During the height of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, hundreds died of covid every day in New Jersey. Governor Murphy ‘strongly recommends’ masks but has stopped short of mandating them.
Vice President Kamala Harris admonished the nation, ‘People need to get vaccinated, that is the only way we are going to cut this thing off, nobody likes wearing a mask, get vaccinated.’ The problem with the Vice President’s assertion is that some people do like wearing the mask. As with everything else in America, Covid-19 lockdowns and masks have become a political issue. For many Democrats, masks show that they take the pandemic seriously, that they’re ‘following the science’, that they trust the nightly prognostications of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Conservatives in America call this ‘virtue signaling’.
Look at California. Governor Gavin Newsom is mandating masks for children. He is also requiring vaccines for state employees and compared the 25 percent of Californians still unvaccinated to drunk drivers. He told CNN, ‘You don't have the right to go out and drink and drive and put everybody else at risk including your own life.’ Newsom blames ‘misinformation by rightwing pundits,’ for the millions of unvaccinated. This week, a picture surfaced of Newsom’s son at a summer camp without a mask. He quickly pulled his son from the camp. During California’s November lockdown last year, the governor was photographed having dinner at the posh French Laundry restaurant in California’s tony wine country.
Newsom faces a recall election this September. Readers may remember that this happened once before in California. In 2003 then governor Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won 48 percent of the vote. In 2018, Newsom won the California Gubernatorial race with 61.9 percent of the vote. Under California’s recall election rules, voters must vote twice. First voters will vote yes or no on recalling Newsom. If a majority votes yes, Newsome is recalled and he will not be on the follow up ballot. His term as governor is over. From there voters must choose who to replace him. This will be determined by a simple majority. Right now, the frontrunner among candidates is African American conservative intellectual and radio talk show host Larry Elder, a native of Los Angeles. The latest poll by Berkley IGS found that 47% of Californians favor recalling the governor. Newsom’s approval rating stands at 48%. Not great, not terrible. Newsom is clearly slipping, but whether Elder or any of the numerous other candidates can turnout voters to recall him remains to be seen.
