Staff Reports
Hospitals and health facilities in some blue states have decided that face masks should be back on the menu this winter, and they’re pulling out all the stops to enforce it. New York, New Jersey, and California are leading the charge, apparently convinced that wandering around with a piece of fabric strapped to everyone’s face is a stellar solution to flu and RSV season.
The New Jersey hospital system RWJBarnabas Health has instituted mask requirements for any patient throwing a sneeze fit and insists their staff largely participate in the make-believe safety program. All visitors are now required to don an “appropriate face mask” as they walk into the premises, because who doesn’t love a little enforced theater when visiting a hospital?
Over in New York, things are not much different. The state’s Health Commissioner recently made it clear that if healthcare workers haven’t had their flu shot, they are now called to put on masks for the rest of the flu season. This seems like an oddly specific way to punish the unvaccinated while other parts of the state are simply left to their own devices. Apparently, the flu virus poses a special threat to the masked while wearing nothing at all is acceptable during a leisurely stroll through Central Park.
California, that bastion of progressive thought, has taken it even further. Bay Area counties like Alameda and Contra Costa are keeping their health workers in masks while they care for patients, as if these face coverings are the magic powers needed to save humanity from all that ails it. One must wonder if there’s a secret stash of lifelong mask wearers waiting for this moment—after all, they’ll need their fix of looking pious while belting out “we’re saving lives.”
Alert: Mask Mandates Making a Big Return in 2025: Would you comply with new mask mandates? https://t.co/IteSIH3jgq pic.twitter.com/NYO3JaR9VI
— The Western Journal (@WestJournalism) January 3, 2025
And let’s not skip past the need for even more masks in Illinois, as they are bringing back mandates like a retired uncle at a family barbecue. At Rush University Medical Center, the rules are as clear as mud: patients and visitors should wear hospital-grade masks even if they’re just waiting for a minor check-up. Forget your health concerns; making sure everyone looks like a bank robber is the bigger priority.
Offering a mask mandate as a response to a seasonal health issue is a new level of government overreach that many thought was left in the COVID rearview mirror. The recent history of mask mandates has made it painfully obvious that once government finds a way to ring the alarm bells, these tyrannical tendencies won’t be quelled until those in power are confidently ready to strip away their emergency powers. The fundamental question remaining is not whether masks will be around this winter but just how long they’ll be enforced in the name of purported safety. The elites certainly are no strangers to using a crisis to push their agenda, so it’s likely this won’t go away quietly.
