Covid
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–Political pressure before the November elections, Democratic fear of appearing as the party of draconian restrictions, worrying rumors from Canada where the Covid is becoming an unexpected vector of populism… Ten states have decided to lift the mask obligation in schools and enclosed spaces.–
It’s a breath of fresh air for millions of Americans, but also the start of new political puzzles. Within a week, ten predominantly Democratic states announced they were easing mask-wearing requirements in their jurisdictions, despite President Biden’s angry grumblings and the dismay of senior federal health officials.
The surprise first came on Monday from California, Oregon, Delaware, Connecticut and New Jersey, five states which had distinguished themselves, for the past two years, by particularly restrictive anti-Covid measures. On Wednesday, it was the turn of Rhode Island and Massachusetts to outright exempt their schoolchildren from masks, while New York and Illinois, pioneers of confinement and social distancing, in turn announced the end of health constraints at the entrance to businesses and private businesses. Since then, the dikes have been open. The governor of Nevada decreed on Thursday that wearing a mask became optional in all public places, and a fortiori in the hundreds of casinos in Las Vegas and Reno.
Vocabulary change
The United States will soon cross the infamous mark of one million coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic, and while only 64% of Americans, due to the ultrapoliticization of the subject, have received at least two doses of vaccines. But the scourge seems to be receding dramatically, from 930,000 cases per day to its peak in mid-January to…
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