IT’S FOR YOUR HEALTH: CNN Doctor Now Recommends Masks and Social Distancing EVERY WINTER
Evan James
|
Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician who regularly appears on CNN, has informally recommended masking and social distancing every winter, saying it would dramatically reduce the spread of the flu and subsequent hospitalizations and deaths.
“If we mask and social distance every winter, we will see a dramatic reduction in the flu, which usually causes hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and tens of thousands of deaths,” Offit said on the network Wednesday morning.
He may not be inherently wrong. This is consistent with the near elimination of the flu across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. It would become a serious problem, however, if authorities tried to mandate masks or social distancing to reduce the spread of a virus we have always lived with.
Masks and social distancing were only implemented as a temporary measure to “slow the spread” of a novel virus. Most normal people—that is, people who haven’t converted to the religion of COVIDianism—understand this. They’re awaiting the day where they don’t have to be told how they’re supposed to go about their business.
There will likely be more voluntary masking after the COVID pandemic has receded, especially during flu season. But it’d be intolerable to expect to live in a “new normal” where masks and social distancing become a routine tool of government control, or where choosing not to mask becomes a cause for social ostracism.
In recent news, Texas governor Greg Abbott has ended their statewide mask mandate and allowed businesses to reopen at 100 percent capacity.
All businesses within the state of Texas will be able to open “100%” after the Governor’s proclamation. After a full year of coronavirus restrictions, Abbott has determined that it’s time for Texans to make their own decision on following health and safety mandates.
The decision to end lockdown restrictions in Texas follows Florida’s approach, and Texas is easily the biggest state to end restrictions on everyday life in the United States. Texas had a varied experience with the coronavirus, with Governor Abbott at one point reinstating restrictions after a second wave of the disease.
Governor Abbott cited the success of President Trump’s life-saving coronavirus vaccine in bringing an end to COVID-19 restrictions. He indicated that the risk of the virus will remain, but that vaccinating vulnerable populations and allowing businesses was the right course ahead for the Lone Star State. The restrictions end on Wednesday.
Abbott believes that nearly all Texans ages 60 and older will be vaccinated by the end of the month, with the vaccinated population reaching critical mass by April.
Share: