Coronavirus Pandemic: Vaccines Have Erased Need for Mask Mandates

nationalreview.com

4 points·mrfusion··4 comments

> Yet this reimposition of government mandates is entirely unjustified, because, thanks to widespread safe, free, and highly effective COVID-19 vaccines, a significant COVID externality no longer exists.

WTH?

> Set aside for now the debate over whether vaccinated individuals can spread the Delta variant.

That's the whole effing point! Vaccinated people, when infected, can transmit!

Whether masks work or not is one debate. But we're not just trying to save vaccinated individuals. We're trying to stop the spread, and more variants.

Vaccinated people can and do spread the virus. "Vaccination," with the current variant(s), is not a good argument against masks.

Defense in depth.

Except vaccination is a prime argument for not having masks. Especially since we are at a point where it is reasonable to assume that anyone who wants a vaccine has gotten one and the remainder are on the fence or are choosing not to get one (at least in the US). Thus, the argument for wearing masks (to protect people) is no longer relevant because those who have not gotten the vaccination have accepted the risk of the disease and have decided they are protected enough. EDIT: This acceptance indicates that there is no longer a need to wear masks as a form of protection.

Kids, immunocompromised, and similar have not made that decision.

Kids are among the least effected and don't really need to make the decision and, as harsh as it sounds, the incredibly small population of immunocompromised do not get to dictate policy for the country at large.

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