Newsbusters By Kyle Drennen
On Wednesday’s CBS Mornings and Thursday’s NBC Today show, hosts fretted over mask mandates being lifted across the country as COVID numbers sharply decline. Jittery anchors feared that the easing of pandemic restrictions “triggers” some people and even suggested they themselves might “wear a mask forever now” in certain settings, like public transportation.
“Should we be dropping the COVID-19-related restrictions, mask mandates, proof of vaccinations, what do you think?” CBS Mornings co-host Nate Burleson asked Dean of Brown University School of Public Health Dr. Ashish Jha on Wednesday. In response, Dr. Jha advised: “I think mask mandates can definitely get lifted. Vaccine mandates are going to be helpful for the long run….But certainly mask mandates, restrictions on gatherings, I think they can start getting lifted.”
After Burleson noted that “the CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, and President Biden both say we should not be lifting the mask mandates,” Jha gently pushed back: “So I appreciate what they’re both saying….My take is things are so much better and heading in the right direction that over the next few weeks I think it’s perfectly reasonable to pull those things back.”
