Why mask mandates aren’t coming back even though covid is
The Washington Post (Dec. 22, 2022) – Nearly every adult ICU bed in Oregon is occupied, driven by an uptick in respiratory viruses. Portland-area hospitals are operating at a “crisis” level for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began. The dire picture has prompted state health officials to implore people to slap their masks on, once again, to protect against a triple threat of covid, flu and RSV as people travel and gather indoors this holiday season.
But like nearly every community confronting a third pandemic winter, the entreaty is just that — a plea. Not a mandate. Health officials in a state that was among the last to end an indoor mask requirement in March now characterize mandates as a distraction. Instead, they are counting on Americans to voluntarily don one of the most effective tools for avoiding sickness.
Mask mandates are dead even though they could help fight ‘tripledemic’ – The Washington Post