Biden administration continues mixed messaging on masks
Editor-In-Chief of The Dispatch Jonah Goldberg joins 'Fox Report' to discuss the changing COVID guidelines
ABC political director and analyst Rick Klein called out the Biden administration for what he called "mixed messaging" following the president's new COVID-19 guidance, which Klein argued was a "backslide" from comments the president made a few weeks earlier.
President Biden announced last week that federal workers would be mandated to get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing, wear masks and practice social distancing. His remarks came on the heels of the announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing concerns about the new delta variant, which is reportedly more transmissible than other variants, urging fully vaccinated individuals in some areas of the country with "high" or "substantial" COVID-19 transmission to once again mask up indoors.
CDC'S NEW MASK GUIDANCE FOR FULLY VACCINATED INDIVIDUALS LEAVES SOME EXPERTS DIVIDED
Klein argued that at this point the White House's "reservoir of good will" has run dry. And it couldn't come at a worse time, he suggested, as this is a time when the country is looking for "national unity."
"You can blame the virus for being confusing and adjusting," Klein said on Sunday. "But at this stage you don't have a reservoir of good will that the Biden administration has been able to build up because there's been conflicting information, there's been conflicting advice, the science has been changing. We don't know what zone we're living in or what the mandate's going to be for indoors versus outdoors, vaccinated, unvaccinated."
It was only in May that Biden announced that fully vaccinated people would "no longer" need to wear masks. When Fox News' Peter Doocy confronted Biden on the apparent flip flop, Biden insisted his statement "was true at the time."
"They want their lives back," Klein said of Americans. "And Joe Biden told us just a few weeks ago, told the American people, that we were about there, getting our lives back. Now we're seeing this backslide. We're seeing his advice adjusting. And it is confusing."
Klein's public display of disappointment in the White House surprised some conservative commentators.
"Dear Democrats, when you've lost Rick Klein…" observed conservative columnist Mike LaChance.
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Klein isn't the only public figure to have blasted the new guidance from the CDC as puzzling and unhelpful.
"The CDC put out new mask guidelines now, which, it’s all just so f---in’ confusing," comedian Bill Maher said on his HBO program on Friday. "Indoors, outdoors, vaccinated, not vaccinated, masked, not masked."
"So now we’re back to wearing the mask from the front of the restaurant until the waiter brings the breadsticks," he added. "It’s called science, people! Sometimes I think we have to cover our faces so other people can cover their a--."
Several pundits on left-leaning media outlets also took swipes at the CDC for its "confusing message" on masks.
"I think the guidance is right, but I think their messaging is awful," CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said.
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