Saturday Night Live's insatiable hunger to mercilessly mock prominent Republican politicians is anything but new. In fact, one of the most iconic clips from the NBC program involves legendary comedian Chevy Chase portraying a confused President Gerald Ford being bombarded with economic questions at a debate with Dan Akroyd's Jimmy Carter. A hilariously disheveled Chase leans into the microphone and intones, "It was my understanding there would be no math."
I admit to feeling a little bit like Chase's Ford these days, because as much as I want to pretend I have the mental capacity to make this makes sense, I just don't.
The administration told us repeatedly that getting vaccinated ensured there would be no masks. Now the administration says that vaccinated people should wear masks. Of course, the administration also says that those who don't want to wear masks should be vaccinated. I'm sure there's a parallel universe where that all makes sense, but you'll have to excuse my Chevy Chase look of bewilderment because I just don't live in that universe.
Maybe it can be explained by the fact that politicians aren't medical professionals. Except, this was what those medical professionals were saying just a couple weeks ago:
As a teacher, we were told there would be no masks. That made sense regardless of vaccination status given that throughout the entirety of the last school year there was not one COVID death reported as a result of pediatric transmission of the virus in unmasked classrooms. But just when I thought I had it figured out…
Upon what grounds did the CDC make this new recommendation? Where is the data demonstrating the effectiveness of masking – particularly in the classroom? The CDC is yet to release any data that prompted their K-12 universal masking recommendation.
And the data that we do have all suggests the decision was anti-science.
One of the few medical voices that I have followed consistently throughout this entire COVID spectacle – one who has relentlessly pursued honesty and common sense – is former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. He is also perplexed by the CDC's about-face on masks, explaining why their new recommendation will have at best a negligible impact on stopping any viral spread.
The good doctor is exactly right: "Give guidance to people on how to selectively reduce their risk."
Masks and social distancing – even economic shutdowns – were perhaps justifiable expectations when the specified intent was to slow the immediate rapid spread of a virus we had no idea how to treat. The goal was to prevent hospitals from being overrun by "flattening the curve" until – and this is the important part – we knew how to treat the virus, firmly understood who was most vulnerable, and had developed therapies, transfusions, and even vaccines to combat it.
Not only are we there now, we also have compiled the necessary data to demonstrate community surges of COVID spread happened with no regard to the prevalence of mask mandates. Reason, science, and experience all beg us to flush the face diapers, which is why all the new mandates and recommendations have left me looking like this:
