A few weeks ago, an odd scene unfolded at the Capitol involving Sen. Ted Cruz. While taking questions from reporters, one chimed in to chastise Cruz for not wearing a mask, asking that he put it on. The Senator shot back that he’s been vaccinated, while the reporter insisted that “it’d make us feel better” (see Ted Cruz Delivers Perfect Response to Mask-Karen Reporter).
Cruz shut down the exchange by noting that the reporter is free to step away if he’s that concerned about the lack of a mask. It was exactly what so many had been waiting to hear in regards to irrational mask-mandates.
What followed, though, was wailing and gnashing of teeth within the media, as if Cruz had just personally put lives at risk by not wearing a mask after being vaccinated.
Here are a few excerpts, first from Business Insider.
Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday refused to wear a mask during a press conference and falsely claimed that he was following guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The exchange came as the Texas senator held a press conference with other Republican senators to discuss immigration and an upcoming trip to the US border with Mexico.
Here’s part of The Hill’s finger-wagging, as well.
Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that even those who have been vaccinated continue wearing masks because vaccines are not 100 percent effective and it is unknown if the virus can still be spread by those who have received the vaccine.
It was not the first time during the pandemic reporters have asked Cruz to wear a mask while speaking to them and he has refused.
Meanwhile, CNN got their pet rock of a TV doctor to chime in and explain “why Cruz is wrong”.
The reaction on Twitter was as hysterical as you’d imagine too.
Now, we know Cruz was 100% right. With the CDC’s sudden flip-flop on masking guidelines, even they admit there was never any scientific reason to wear a mask after being vaccinated. When that reporter demanded Cruz wear a mask, it was the reporter who was spitting in the face of objective data. As an aside, it’s a bit scary that our news media are so uninterested in challenging the government status quo when Democrats are in power. Why were these networks and journalists not asking the obvious questions about why masks were still necessary when they clearly weren’t?
Regardless, none of this is news. Reinfection rates for the vaccinated are minuscule, to the point of being well below the typical risk levels we absorb every day in regards to a hundred other aspects of our lives. If you can’t get COVID, you can’t spread it. The idea of masking after vaccination never made one iota of sense, and I’d offer that the only reason the Biden administration kept such draconian, nonsensical guidelines in place was to help push through more of his agenda. The fear was the point.