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CDC Releases New Mask Guidance and Tucker Carlson Proves to Be the Biggest Maskhole

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According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fully vaccinated people can pull the mask off in outdoor, and some indoor, settings, even among other unvaccinated people. 

But, and this is a big but, the CDC still recommends everyone wear masks when in large crowds of strangers and they go as far as saying that unvaccinated people should probably avoid those and many other situations entirely. 

The updated guidance released Tuesday was delivered in an illustrated chart fit for grade-schoolers. Each activity is listed with a column for fully vaccinated people and another for unvaccinated, each with its own masked or unmasked person — let’s call him Tommy — in green, yellow or red, which indicate safety levels.

It basically boils down to this: If Tommy is fully vaccinated and outdoors with a small group of people, of all vaccination statuses, Tommy can go maskless. Tommy can also shed the cloth at outdoor restaurants with friends or family from different households. But fully vaccinated Tommy is still asked to mask up in big outdoor crowds at events like concerts, games and parades.

Tommy’s unvaccinated twin can take the mask off in small outdoor gatherings, but he’s pretty much asked to keep the dang thing on for most activities around other people, and the CDC would prefer that Tommy maybe not do things like go to indoor movie theaters or sing in choirs, like, at all.

Here’s an illustrative guide even your kindergartner can understand:

Mask guidance issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, April 27, 2021.

The guidance seems fairly simple and based in science, yet, as we’ve highlighted over the past year, common sense is not so common. So, of course there are those special people out there already hollering about ‘muh freedom!’ And come on, we’ve come to expect that by now. 

But Tucker Carlson — the real-life bad Tommy in a tiny bow tie — took the maskhole thing to a whole new low when he suggested to his viewers Monday night that parents are abusing masked children and they should be reported for such.

Carlson said:

“Call the police immediately, contact child protective services. Keep calling until someone arrives. What you’re looking at is abuse, it’s child abuse and you are morally obligated to attempt to prevent it.”

As crazy as it sounds, he is telling people to report parents to CPS for attempting to keep their kids safe, which is literally the opposite of why CPS exists. The suggestion amounts to callous and dangerous rhetoric, but that is the not-a-journalist’s specialty. It would seem more appropriate that CPS be called on parents allowing their children to watch his show.  Just sayin’.          

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Nik Wojcik - East Bay Editor

Nik Wojcik - East Bay Editor

Journalist, editor, student, single mom to a pack of wolves, foodie, music lover, resident smart ass, and champion of vulgarity and human kindness.