Even as the left giddily gears up for the return of COVID mask mandates, conservatives are going on the record rejecting a return to mandatory masking.
CNN quoted experts as claiming that it may be time to dust off the old face coverings in the wake of a “recent uptick” in coronavirus cases. The left-wing network quoted cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Reiner as saying “that advice should go all the way up to 80-year-old President Joe Biden.”
Not so fast, retorted conservative actor Kevin Sorbo.
The frequent political commentator posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, “I’m not wearing a mask. You can stay home if you don’t feel safe.”
Sorbo is far from alone with his resistance to the government and private entities mandating face coverings. That has not stopped multiple institutions from returning to the dreaded restrictions of yesteryear.
Atlanta’s Morris Brown College informed its faculty and staff in recent days that the campus was returning to mask mandates. And Hollywood giant Lionsgate likewise reinstituted the requirement for certain areas of its California operation.
It's now apparent that masks were, at best, virtue signaling or a talisman, and, at worst, a control mechanism. Either way, masks are ineffective in preventing the spread of respiratory viruses. Why are they making a comeback? https://t.co/z0m0vEdVrt
— Glenn Jacobs (@GlennJacobsTN) August 23, 2023
Universities including Rutgers and Georgetown are also still clinging to requiring students to be vaccinated and in some cases to mask up as well.
The trend toward remasking is not sitting well with many. Commentator Graham Allen emphatically declared, “I will go to jail before I wear a mask!”
Liz Wheeler, another conservative social media voice, posted her response to the renewed interest in masking. “We don’t have to wait and see if they impose mask mandates again. If we say NO like we should’ve done in the first place, and refuse to comply, the mandates mean NOTHING.”
Wheeler added, “It’s actually up to us, not politicians.”
Of course, some welcome the infringement like an old friend. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis posted a picture of her wearing a Halloween-themed mask with encouragement for fans to cover their faces “if required or even if you feel unwell and are out in public spaces.”
She wrote that many of her friends are “really sick.”
Jordan Peterson responded to the article featuring Curtis’ masking plea with a notably different message. “Stay at home if you’re scared but leave the rest of us…alone. Enough medical fascism.”
How many honest observers would be surprised if a second pandemic magically appeared just in time for the 2024 presidential cycle? It worked once.
