“Hallelujah,” cheered my Uber driver.
It was April 19 and a federal court in Florida had just ruled that now the national injunction on bandages on public transportation should be removed.
But the party was short-lived.
Just over a day later, the hated bandages were on again.
The local authorities in Washington DC had decided that. The same thing happened in New York.
Though, the rules were now harder to understand than ever.
In the capital, only the taxi agency doubted the sanitary napkin order. The Agency for Transport by Bus and Train had come to the opposite conclusion.
Now no one in town knows exactly what to do.
Mouthpiece chaos
The muzzle chaos also applies in many other contexts. If you are going to visit a public office belonging to the mini-state District of Columbia, the mask must be on.
If you’re going into a federal building, like the Congress or the Supreme Court, you’re free.
And if you drive across the border to the next state, there may be completely different rules that meet you.
– MASK OR NOT? On domestic flights in the US, you no longer need to wear a face mask, but if you are going to the airports in New York, you must make sure you have one in your pocket. Photo: NTB Scanpix.
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Philadelphia, for example, as the only major city, has just reintroduced sanitary napkins in all public areas.
In New York, you still have to wear a face mask if you are going to stop by one of the city’s airports. When you get into the plane itself, however, you can take it off, because this is federal territory.
Vinglete Fauci
US health authorities are now receiving scathing criticism from several quarters for being unclear in their communication.
Even President Joe Biden’s top coronation adviser, Anthony Fauci, in the eyes of many, is unable to agree with himself.
Last week, he declared on The TV channel PBS that the United States “is out of the pandemic period”, but already the next day he stated to the news agency AP that the pandemic is by no means over.
– EXPERT CRITICISM: Anthony Fauci, who has been a coronation adviser to both Trump and Biden, is now being criticized for being vague in his messages. Photo: NTB Scanpix.
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The following Saturday, Fauci dropped out of the big correspondent dinner in Washington due to fear of infection.
However, President Biden did not do so, who to all intents and purposes showed up at the party without the mouthpiece he himself has recommended people wear.
– It would be very useful if they came up with specific advice for what situations require people to wear face masks. If there are still such situations, virus expert Stanley Perlman says Newsweek.
Alarms about mutants
While the confusion is growing, several American infection control experts have now started talking about a new corona wave lying right around the next turn.
– THE BATTLE FATHER: The original coronavirus photographed through a microscope. Since 2020, the varieties have come in a row, and now it is feared that the vaccines may not work so well against the latest supplements on the family tree. Photo: AP / NTB
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Both in the summer of 2020 and 2021, the United States experienced this, and despite the fact that a fairly large proportion of the population has now been vaccinated and perhaps as many as 200 million have a degree of immunity, new virus variants are lurking in the shadows.
The ultra-infectious omicron has received several new cousins in recent months.
The last genus is called omikron BA.2. 12. 1, and can according to Some researchers may be up to 25 percent more contagious than their predecessor. And from South Africa, BA.4 and BA.5 have appeared. It is still unknown how bad these are compared to other mutations.
Former White House co-adviser Deborah Birx says the number of infected people in the United States is on the rise again, after the previous peak in January.
– Each new wave occurs at four to six month intervals. This means that the immunity of the population has been reduced after four to six months, and that a new big wave will come, says Birx on the TV program Face the Nation.
– CONFUSION: In the US Congress building, the sanitary napkin order has long since been lifted. But if you are going to visit the car inspection in Washington, the mask must be on. Photo: NTB Scanpix.
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Political mask use
Even before this possible wave of infections, more than 300 Americans still die of covid every single day, and soon the total number will be up to one million.
The question that concerns many Americans now is whether it will be on again, with closure, home office and face mask.
In the streets of Washington, a city dominated by Democratic voters, there are still many who still walk around sweating in the spring sun with the thick N95 masks.
Even outdoors, that is. One of them is 22-year-old Kiya Jenkins.
– I think the pandemic is still among us. I have relatives who are at home with covid right now, so I think the virus is out here, she says to TV 2.
– CRITICAL: Mouthpieces should still be used everywhere, says Kiya (22), who is afraid of getting sick. Photo: Øystein Bogen TV 2.
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Kiya does not find the rules difficult to understand, but no longer trusts the US government’s corona council. She believes the measures should continue.
– There are far too many who do not wear face masks in restaurants and shops. The situation is still very serious here in the United States. The virus is still ravaging.
Kiya says she has no political motive behind wearing a face mask on the street.
But if you drive a few minutes west out of Washington and over to the more republican Virginia, the masks are far less common.
The impression is that bandages and measures are still to the highest degree the subject of political opinions in the United States.
At least in a situation where people feel that even politicians and health authorities can not agree on what to do next and trust is thin.
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