Wait: Who's Calling The Shots?

I'm an Aristotelian, and I look for causes. That Chris Cuomo would visibly press, and even berate, Dr Walensky on CNN over not updatimg the mask guidance Wednesday struck me as important, and I posted about it Thursday. But then, the CDC actually went ahead and revised its mask guidance, saying vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks or observe social distancing indoors. Beyond that, Joe Biden himself endorsed the guidance, announcing,

Let me repeat: If you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask.

But neither President Biden nor Drs Walensky and Fauci are independent actors. Via the New York Times just yesterday, we learn that Biden dithers for weeks over decisions. Dr Walensky took public health advice from the teachers'union, not The Science:

The powerful teachers union’s full-court press preceded the federal agency putting the brakes on a full re-opening of in-person classrooms, emails between top CDC, AFT and White House officials show.

But then, in the wake of the mask relaxation, even the AFT did a 180:

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said she is now “pleading” for the full reopening of schools.

“We can and we must reopen schools in the fall for in-person teaching, learning and support. And we must keep them open fully and safely five days a week,” said Weingarten in a speech.

Weingarten’s new advocacy or reopening schools comes just over a week after her teachers union was caught at the center of a scandal for inveigling the Biden CDC in a plot to keep schools closed indefinitely.

It's hard not to think that someone powerful -- someone like, say, Bill Gates -- had his chief gofer make a few calls, to CNN, the White House, the CDC, the AFT -- and justlikethat Biden quit dithering, Walensky saw the light, and everything magically got straightened out with a few public announcements. Well, you might think.

Except Speaker Pelosi said the House will continue to wear masks. The LA County health department, which just the other week had immediately endorsed the prior CDC guidance over wearing masks outdoors, took a very different tack on Thursday:

Masks are still required for anyone entering a business or crowded indoor area in Los Angeles County until further guidance is issued, public health officials said Thursday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its mandate.

. . . But in L.A. County, public health officials say everyone must still adhere to distancing and masking requirements at workplaces until the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health changes its guidelines.

“Until Cal/OSHA changes these requirements, the county cannot be less restrictive,” Ferrer said.

The state agency’s board is set to vote on new workplace safety standards next Thursday, May 20. If approved, businesses where all employees are fully vaccinated would be exempt from physical distancing requirements starting July 31.

In other words, Dr Ferrer is going to slow-walk this through the bureaucracy, and the bureaucracy won't make up its mind until at least July 31, even though Gov Newsom himself said things in California will loosen June 15.

It's possible to argue that the Biden-CDC "loosening" is just a carefully thought out head fake by the lizard people like Bill Gates, intended to distract attention from inflation, gas lines, Hamas, and whatever else. That in fact could be. But what's become even more abundantly clear in just the past few days is that the whole mask-and-social-distancing regime is nothing but a politically driven charade. If The Science says they aren't needed, then screw The Science, keep the masks.

I'll have thoughts about Bill Gates tomorrow.