CDC Director Walensky Recommends Wearing Masks in High COVID-19 Areas Despite Criticism

At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last Wednesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told lawmakers that the CDC will continue to recommend masks in schools in communities where COVID-19 levels are high.^[0] She emphasized that it is important to actually wear the mask in order for it to be effective. “Our masking guidance doesn't really change with time—what it changes with is disease,” she said.^[0] “So, when there is a lot of diseases in the community, we recommend that those communities and those schools mask. When there's less disease in the community, we recommend that those masks can come off.”^[0]

Walensky linked to a study on Red State's website that found that COVID mitigation efforts in schools, including forced masking, were highly effective tools in stopping the spread of the virus.^[0] This study was authored by LA County officials, including Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer's daughter who does not have a doctorate.^[0]

University of Toronto Assistant Professor J.D. Haltigan called Walensky's comments “utterly ridiculous.”^[0] Author and Clinical Psychologist Dr. Jordan B. Peterson tweeted, “Follow the science' except when it limits the overreach of your power,” and WSB Radio legal analyst and Townhall columnist Philip Holloway wrote, “After all the @CDCgov mask nagging, mandating, coercing and ordering, badgering and shaming, I guess expecting them to follow real science and reverse course on masks is too much to expect.^[0] Instead @CDCDirector shows her sunk cost bias and digs her heels in.^[1]

0. “Twitter erupts after CDC Director Walensky tells Congress masking guidance ‘doesn't really change with time'” msnNOW, 15 Feb. 2023, https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/twitter-erupts-after-cdc-director-walensky-tells-congress-masking-guidance-doesn-t-really-change-with-time/ar-AA17wNyx?ocid=Peregrine

1. “Twitter erupts after CDC Director Walensky tells Congress masking guidance ‘doesn't really change with time'” Fox News, 15 Feb. 2023, https://www.foxnews.com/media/twitter-erupts-cdc-director-walensky-tells-congress-masking-guidance-doesnt-really-change-time