COVID-19 Mandates Begin To Resurface Ahead Of 2024 Election
Ahead of the 2020 election, COVID-19 protocols that expanded access to mail-in ballots and other accommodations were widely suspected of providing unreliable results — whether by fraud or human error.
Since then, President Joe Biden announced that “the pandemic is over,” but new evidence suggests that COVID-19 restrictions could resurface once again as the 2024 election season starts to heat up.
With a new variant reportedly spreading, some businesses and institutions have already started to re-implement mask mandates.
The Biden administration has stressed the perceived importance of receiving yet another COVID-19 shot.
“We will be encouraging all Americans to get those boosters in addition to flu shots and RSV shots,” one White House source indicated.
Although some media sources are recommending mask use in a variety of situations, many medical experts say the argument in favor of widespread masking is specious.
During a recent Fox News Channel appearance, Dr. Nicole Saphier acknowledged that wearing “a high-quality mask, like an N-95” could be beneficial in very limited circumstances, such as when in close proximity to someone who is immunocompromised.
As for ordinary face masks, however, she said: “Those don’t actually work as we’ve seen by many, many studies. But to actually say, you know, to wear masks again in the house and just being in public spaces, we have to move on.”
Saphier noted that a resurgence of COVID-19 as summer comes to an end is par for the course, calling it “just a normal cycle” of the now-endemic virus.
“The bottom line, COVID is not what it was three years ago, and we have to move forward with this,” she added. “This doesn’t mean that you have to quarantine, it’s just if you’re sick, stay home.”
Although COVID-related hospitalizations have been on the rise in recent weeks, the numbers remain low in comparison to most other periods since the pandemic began. Even after seeing a 21.6% week-over-week increase for the week ending on Aug. 12, the hospitalization rate was three times lower than the same period last year and six times lower than in 2021.
In fact, only 21 of the 160 weeks tracked since August 2020 saw lower rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the CDC.
