The Biden administration has deployed 400 million “free” masks to the American public. This effort is meant to provide three N95 masks per person. The masks have been distributed out to various pharmacies in the federal retail pharmacy program, including major grocery stores. For some perspective on the quantity, note that the population of the United States is roughly 330 million, ~75% of which is over 18 years of age.
It looks like the “3 per person” distribution is conducted on the honor system. This reminds me of when someone leaves the unattended bucket of candy out on Halloween with a sign that says, “Please take one.” Ha!
But, people were a bit perplexed when they saw a bunch of masks stacked in what appears to be “bargain bins” for people to rummage through. Now I’m not much of a germaphobe, but my first thought was, “that can’t be sanitary.”
Kroger responded to complaints, pointing the finger back at the government:
I’m not sure how to describe the absurdity of sending people “free” masks, especially considering the masks are disposable and will last the recipient less than a week (assuming the recipient is an honorable 3-per-person stand-up guy). What do the mask wearers do when their free supply is no more? How will they function in life? When the free masks are gone in a matter of days, do the mask-people just stand outside their homes looking bleakly up at the sky waiting for more N95s to rain down?
No, of course not. They go out and buy more. Because that is what you do when you want something. You go to the store and you purchase it. But, here in Bizarro World, everything is turned upside down.
Now this “free” nonsense drives me crazy. The costs of deploying these masks have not been published from what I know. But a quick napkin calculation tells us that 400 million masks costs at least $200 million (based on today’s price of a pack of fifty N95s at Amazon for $25). This $200 mil doesn’t account for any standard bureaucracy, transporting, waste, mark-up, etc. Who’s paying the bill? Well, you will, sucker. And those 3 dirty little masks you rummaged for (assuming you got lucky before they were all pilfered) will cost you more on the back-end than if you had just purchased them at the store like every other consumer good.
And as with every government program, someone stands to get rich. In this case it happens to be the progressive’s corporate buddies at 3M, Draeger, Honeywell, and Moldex.
Bernie Sanders has been pushing this idea for a while now. Sanders first introduced the Masks for All Act in the summer of 2020, but it died before even reaching a vote. So he tried again last month, reintroducing the legislation. I’m not sure if Bernie’s legislation is responsible for this latest shipment or if the Biden administration just decided to make this happen by releasing masks from the Strategic National Stockpile. Either way, Bernie got what he wanted.
This whole charade comes after the Center for Disease Control (CDC) started to change their tune on cloth masks, finally admitting their lack of effectiveness. Of course, over the last two years, the political experts including the CDC have been insisting the public don any sort of cloth (short of a string bikini) on their faces to “stop the spread.”
Rational people have been arguing from early on in the hysteria that masking in the context of coronavirus is nothing more than pseudoscientific political theater, especially cloth masking. But, they have been ridiculed, called cranks, “fact-checked,” and in some cases, cast out of polite society. The calls to authority were always virtuously exhorted: “But the CDC says … !”
Well now the CDC has updated their language:
“Masks and respirators (i.e., specialized filtering masks such as ‘N95s’) can provide different levels of protection depending on the type of mask and how they are used. Loosely woven cloth products provide the least protection, layered finely woven products offer more protection, well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95s offer even more protection, and well-fitting NIOSH-approved respirators (including N95s) offer the highest level of protection.”
No shit, Sherlock. Believe it or not, saying this out loud in public just a few months ago would have gotten you treated like an idiot. But it has become common place for the political establishment to weaselly shift the goal posts once they realize the public notices the ineffectiveness or negative impact of their policies.
It was about the time when Dr. Leana Wen — CNN’s favorite medical authoritarian — came on TV and finally admitted, “Don’t wear a cloth mask. Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations.” At that point, the mask narrative had shifted.
Of course, now they are doubling down on the whole “N95 mask” thing, and sure enough, the people are falling in line. You can see it out in public. N95 is now the “sophisticated” trend. Cloth masks are for doofuses now, you see.
It’s gotten so absurd that even the Super Bowl is providing every attendee with a KN95 mask and will require they wear it in between the shoveling of chili-cheese hotdogs and peanuts into their mouths.
Think mask mandates and lockdowns help to stop the spread of COVID-19. Test your intuition at CovidChartsQuiz.com. I’m certain you’ll fail the quiz.