Ex-Federal Health Official Opposes Mask Mandates
A Former Trump Official Says Masks Shouldn’t Be Mandated
A former Trump administration official who led the initial federal pandemic response in 2020 said that masks do not need to be mandated now.
Dr. Deborah Birx, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator, told Newsmax Saturday that three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ”we don’t need to mandate.” She was responding to an increasing number of hospitals and businesses that are mandating masks amid a slight increase in COVID-19 hospital admissions around the United States.
“We need to actually empower people with the information that they need for themselves and their families because every family is different,” she added. “And by the way, outside is safe, and playgrounds are safe.”
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It comes as multiple hospitals in Upstate New York announced in August that masks will be mandatory for not only staff, but also patients and visitors. They include United Health Services in Binghamton, Auburn Community Hospital in Auburn, University Hospital in Syracuse, and Samaritan Health facilities in Watertown, also located upstate.
This week, Samaritan Health Facilities announced that it would require masking for staff, patients, and visitors. A public relations official with the hospital, Leslie DiStefano, claimed it is being done because “we know … that [masking] absolutely works,” despite an abundance of studies showing otherwise.
Earlier this month, United Health Services in Binghamton, New York, confirmed that it would again require masks for patients, visitors, staff, and doctors. “Because of an uptick in COVID-19 cases, masks are once again required in all clinical areas at UHS Wilson Medical Center, UHS Binghamton General Hospital, UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital and UHS Delaware Valley Hospital, as well as primary and specialty care sites,” United Health Services stated on its website.
The policy, imposed last week, is “in effect immediately for all patients, visitors, employees, medical staff, volunteers, students and vendors.” It added: “Masks are required at nurses’ stations and in conference rooms within clinical departments, including areas where patients register, wait, transport through, or receive testing and care.”
Elsewhere in New York, Auburn Community Hospital in Auburn, located upstate, said on Aug. 19, about a month after its previous mask mandate ended, that it would again be requiring masks on-site. That applies to anyone going inside the facility, regardless of vaccination status.
Also in mid-August, University Hospital in Syracuse, New York, reinstated masking for everyone entering the building. The hospital’s mandate was only lifted a few months prior to that, in late April.
Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, California, also reimposed a mandate for staff, doctors, and nurses, but not patients or visitors.
“Our intent was to communicate that as of Tuesday, we have expanded the masking requirement for our employees and physicians to medical offices and clinic settings; we apologize for any confusion among Press Democrat readers,” Kaiser said in its latest statement.
Mask mandates were also implemented at Hollywood studio Lionsgate in Santa Monica, California, in recent days. However, the company tol
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