Not that there was really any doubt among Twitchy readers, NYT reporter David Leonhardt tweeted this long thread this morning that shows how the CDC’s loosening of mask guidelines on May 13 did not lead to a surge in new cases.
THREAD ==>
When the C.D.C. loosened its mask guidelines three weeks ago, many people were anxious: Would it lead unvaccinated people to take off their masks and cause a surge of new cases?
So far, the answer is no. Cases keep falling. And vaccinations of 16+ have stopped falling. 🧵
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
The C.D.C. announced its new mask guidance on May 13. Since then, cases have continued to decline at the same rate as before May 13: pic.twitter.com/wbSuanbPEp
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
Overall, daily new Covid cases in the U.S. have fallen by almost 75 percent since mid-April and by more than 90 percent from the peak in January.https://t.co/GCVY2Iyx4Q
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
Note: Another explanation is that masks don’t really work all that well to stop the spread and it was all theater for the past year:
Why haven't looser mask guidelines led to more cases?
A crucial point is that the loosened guidelines probably did not cause many people to change their behavior in ways that created new risks….
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
… It doesn't matter if vaccinated people go maskless more often, because they're almost never going to get or spread the virus. And it won't change things if unvaccinated people keep doing what they were already doing (e.g. going maskless, as in many heavily GOP communities).
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
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The only newly worrisome scenarios involve unvaccinated people who had been wearing masks and decided to stop doing so after the C.D.C.’s new policy. Surely, some Americans fall into this category. But there don’t seem to be enough of them to increase the spread of the virus.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
And there’s evidence that getting rid of masks encouraged more people to get vaccinated:
As for vaccinations: After the C.D.C. announced the new guidelines on May 13, traffic to https://t.co/rkOSiirGlz immediately surged, as @elizcohencnn has noted. https://t.co/j6gr1nsKUQ
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
More concretely: The vaccination trends changed. For the previous month, the number of daily shots in the U.S. (among people 16 years old and up) had been falling. With a few days of the mask announcement, the decline leveled off. pic.twitter.com/CqhZxIs1LP
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
Bottom line: It's early. But so far, the C.D.C. looser new mask guidelines have not led to an increase in cases – and the guidelines do seem to have inspired some Americans to get vaccinated. That's encouraging. https://t.co/GCVY2Iyx4Q
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 2, 2021
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