Months after Joe Biden and his vice presidential pick, Sen. Kamala Harris, “endorsed a three-month federal mask mandate that would require Americans even outdoors to strap on a face mask or risk prosecution,” the former vice president claimed in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that Americans wearing masks for 100 days would create a “significant reduction” in COVID-19 cases.
“I think my inclination is on the first day I’m inaugurated to say I’m going to ask the public for 100 days to mask,” Biden said. “This is 100 days to mask. Not forever. 100 days. And I think we’ll see a significant reduction if we incur that, and when that occurs with vaccinations and masking to drive down the numbers considerably.”
Joe Biden says he will ask all Americans to wear a mask for the first 100 days of his administration:
“Just 100 days to mask. Not forever. 100 days and I think we’ll see a significant reduction… drive down the numbers considerably.”
pic.twitter.com/yHDNwCiF7h— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 3, 2020
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the health official who flip-flopped his opinion on masks, currently says Biden’s proposal is “a good idea.” Just like Fauci thought it was a “good idea” to keep schools closed until he realized that it wasn’t all along.
Biden’s words, however, can’t be trusted. The former vice president’s comments eerily resemble promises from health officials, politicians, the mainstream media, and Biden himself in March and April claiming that Americans only needed to lock down for 14 days to “slow the spread,” “flatten the curve,” and get the coronavirus pandemic under control.
Donald Trump is not responsible for COVID-19, but he is responsible for our slow, uncoordinated response.
Experts say that if we had acted two weeks earlier, more lives could have been saved.
Trump failed to take swift action—and we're paying the price. https://t.co/nyq6DpLOid
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 17, 2020
People were told that if they could just stay at home for two weeks, their local hospitals wouldn’t be overwhelmed and lives would inherently be saved.
This narrative evolved as the Wuhan virus continued to spread. Governors and mayors, some of whom have hypocritically violated their own restrictions on travel and gatherings, extended the lockdowns past 14 days to months of shuttered businesses, closed church doors, and locked up schools. As mental health problems, thoughts of suicide, and economic problems rose, many of the nation’s bureaucrats ignored the pleas of small business owners, pastors, teachers, and families longing for their livelihoods and instead imposed selective restrictions on their communities in the name of “science” that changes regularly.
Even now, nine months into the pandemic, lockdowns persist, with multiple cities around the country such as Los Angeles hunkering down for a second time, banned from even traveling “on foot, bicycle, scooter, motorcycle, automobile, or public transit.” Governors tried to cancel Thanksgiving and politicians and health officials are warning against celebrating Christmas too.
There is no guarantee that Biden’s so-called “100 days” will actually be limited to 100 days. Masks have been mandated across the United States for months now, yet, we are still seeing increasing COVID-19 numbers across the board. What is going to stop Biden or governors, who have the power to ignore a mere recommendation, from extending 100 days to 101 days? Or 200 days? Or 365?
A Biden mask mandate may provide political cover for governors who want to clamp down more.
There is no science that determined 100 days of mask-wearing by Americans will “significantly reduce” the spread of the virus as Biden promises, but since when did that matter?
As New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently noted, some of these magical scientific numbers informing COVID-19 restrictions simply are “not that relevant anymore.” They are arbitrary and often serve a political purpose, only to be discarded once they have fulfilled it.
We may not know the future, but we do know the past. The same politicians and bureaucrats whose salaries are paid despite their city or state’s lockdown conditions have made flaky promises about reducing virus spread before are the ones who broke those promises and forced people into months of isolation, grief, and pain. And they are ready to do it again.
When Biden takes the stage and offers a capricious timeline for mask-wearing, promising that it won’t last forever, don’t believe him. Instead, close your eyes and meditate on those monotonous days at home during your city or state’s two-week lockdown that turned into nine months of restrictions. Think about those who lost their jobs, those who couldn’t have graduations, weddings, or funerals, and those who spent Thanksgiving alone.
