America’s top COVID-19 authority from a government point of view, Doctor Anthony Fauci is at it again. Fauci initially said Americans should not wear face masks in public when the pandemic began. Then he said they should. Then he said they should wear two masks. Now, after the CDC has lifted the national guidance on face masks for vaccinated Americans, Fauci is back to say a mask mandate at the federal level is imminent.
Fauci announced on CNN that a federal mask guidance change that would require fully vaccinated Americans to once again mask up could be coming.
“This is under active consideration,” Fauci said. “We’re going in the wrong direction.”
In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy, one of the nation’s top supports of face mask wearing during the pandemic said he’s not so sure if his state would follow the CDC guidance unless the numbers got worse. New Jersey is among the most vaccinated states in America.
“I saw what Doctor Fauci said, obviously the CDC matters a lot to us,” Murphy said. “We largely look to the CDC for guidance.”
Murphy said it takes the CDC guidelines into consideration but doesn’t always follow the CDC because sometimes the situation in New Jersey is different than in other states.
“You have to take into consideration the reality of what your state looks like,” Murphy said. “A national recommendation may or may not be consistent with the facts on the ground. So that’s something we always consider and look at.”
“Please get vaccinated,” Murphy added. “The more people who get vaccinated, the easier these decisions are going to be.”