Right after being sworn in as the new Republican governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order that gave parents the choice to opt their children out of school mask mandates. The order immediately set up a showdown with the state’s more blue school districts. As of right now, seven districts are suing Gov. Youngkin for the right to force students to wear masks all day at school. In Fairfax county, Superintendent Scott Brabrand went so far as to inform the public that schools under his jurisdiction would continue to enforce mask mandates, and noncompliance would warrant immediate suspension.
In New York, school kids have experienced a yo-yo effect of masking in recent days, with a court initially striking down the governor’s mandate, and then another court issuing a stay - forcing kids to don masks once more. In Los Angeles county, public school students are being forced to wear “well-fitted, non-cloth masks with a nose wire,” even while outside.
Examples like this abound. All across the country, kids are being subjected to extended school closures, social distancing, and absurd mask requirements. It’s the “new normal” of the COVID era, and it extends well beyond masking kids in schools.
In Washington, DC, for example, Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser and the rest of the city’s progressive government just implemented a policy that requires residents to show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, gyms, entertainment centers and indoor event establishments. The city is also still under an indoor mask mandate.
In a nod to exasperated Americans everywhere, the writer and podcast host Bari Weiss (yes, still love her) went on Real Time with Bill Maher last week and proclaimed she’s “done with COVID.” Amen, sister. Yet while many have echoed her sentiment, the oh-so-elite public health establishment torched her. One, a Dr. Jonathan Reiner, said on CNN that Weiss needed to “grow up because she’s acting like a child” Reiner went on to say that this country “has asked so little of people,” and the LEAST they could do is get vaccinated and wear a mask when asked to do so by the medical community. Just as an aside, Dr. Reiner also advocates for a vaccine mandate for air travel.
The media establishment went after Weiss, too. Washington Post blogger Jen Rubin accused Weiss of “utterly losing [her] moral compass.” Carlos Maza, the liberal “journalist” famous for attempting to cancel conserative humorist Stephen Crowder on YouTube (I know; lots to unpack there), called Weiss an “absolute f***ing clown.”
On The View, host Whoopi Goldberg went on a pro-mask rant because, for example, there are still people at risk who can’t get vaccinated. Co-host Sarah Haines then chimed in by saying that masking in public is the “new normal” and well, basically everyone needs to accept it. Remember when TSA security measures went up after 9/11? We adjusted to those just fine, didn’t we!?
Enough is enough already. Nothing about this is normal.
The new reality isn’t eternal masking, folks. The new reality - for now, anyway - is that we’re in the cultural fight of our lifetime. Yes, I said it. It’s the battle between the perpetual purveyors of COVID paranoia and the Americans who would like to accept the fact that this virus is here to stay and it’s time to move on already. That’s what every COVID debate is about at this point. And it’s what, I would bet, the entire 2022 Midterm elections will be fought over. Pro-tip to anyone running for public office this year: Straighten out your stance on masking and vaccines, and make it a good one.
Here’s the thing. There will ALWAYS be people who, for one reason or another, won’t get the COVID vaccine. Using that as an argument for continuing mask mandates means you are actually advocating for eternal masking. There will never be zero COVID. The risk will always be there. So will the unvaccinated. Are we to make our kids put on masks forever because of those two facts? That is not a “new normal” I’m willing to accept. What’s more, framing this conversation around motives pertaining to life and death is no longer ok. Just because I want kids in schools or daycares unmasked, doesn’t mean I’m playing “russian roulette” with their lives or anyone else’s.
And yet, the condescension around elite corridors is everywhere. Every five seconds we’re being told by some politician, journalist, or doctor-slash-commentator that we need to get over it; that these are minor inconveniences to pay for not dying. And what’s with all the outrage, anyway?
Spare me. Masking is no longer a “minor inconvenience”. It’s a blatant disregard for science and an absolute refusal to balance risk. And I’m done. As Dr. Vinay Prasad so eloquently put it, “I will no longer participate in your inability to consider trade-offs.” I no longer wish to accept a world in which adults manifest their anxiety about COVID onto school kids who have been, throughout this pandemic, extremely low-risk. That is MY new reality. I will 100% fight back in any way that I can, and yes, that includes declining to dine out in D.C if it means showing a vaccination card. I KNOW that sounds juvenile and petty, but so does requiring proof of vaccination to stop the spread of COVID-19 when vaccinated people can still spread COVID-19.
People who are still ok with Covid’s “new normal” are the ones who are lucky enough to have childcare and flexible schedules or the option to work remotely. Yes, I’m looking at you, Whoopi. Their paychecks don’t depend on hours worked; clocking in and clocking out is a foreign concept. To them, masks are minor because a maskless face is probably the ONLY thing they’ve had to sacrifice at the altar of COVID-19. Weiss called the ongoing need for COVID precautions a “pandemic of the bureaucracy.” Really, “pandemic of the privileged” is more accurate.
Amanda’s Media Diet
Here’s what I’m currently consuming, or have consumed recently. This week’s recs are a little different!
During my bout with COVID, I binged MAID on Netflix. Highly, highly recommend, but only if you’re cool with watching something that’s both overwhelmingly hopeful and depressing at the same time.
I also just started…drumroll, please…Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Yes, this is my first time reading it. Yes, I’m enjoying it so far. No clue if I will finish the entire series. Stay tuned!
Ok, one more. Do yourself a favor and read Mary Katharine Ham in The Atlantic: “Kids Shouldn’t Have To Be ‘Resilient’”
They’re Coming for To Kill A Mockingbird
A Product Rec
If you, like me, struggle with dry skin in the winter, listen up: Oak Essentials Moisture Rich Balm is here to turn that sandpaper situation into skin as smooth as a baby's bottom. This is unlike any moisturizer I’ve ever tried, and fair warning: it goes on THICK. It sits on the surface and slowly absorbs into the skin, which isn’t something I thought I would like at first. But this stuff is magical and trust me when I say, your skin will thank you.