President keeps on mask to cross White House lawn despite no mandate and infection rates collapsing

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Joe and Jill Biden have worn face masks to walk across the lawn at the White House, despite there being no mandate to do so and Omicron infection rates collapsing.

The Bidens – who are booster vaccinated – covered their faces for no apparent reason as they crossed the White House grounds after disembarking Marine One.

It is not clear who the President, 79, or the First Lady, 70, were protecting or who they felt they needed protection from as the only people walking across the grounds. 

When the couple walked closer to the White House, members of the secret sevice and the press were seen nearer, within a couple of yards, however the risk of infection given they were outdoors was negligible.

It comes just months after the Bidens were pictured wearing face masks on a deserted Rehoboth Beach in Delaware while walking their German Shepherd puppy, Commander.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in December updated its guidance to say that Americans who are fully vaccinated can safely go maskless indoors, or outdoors, with the exception of crowded indoor settings like planes.

The President’s mask-wearing parade on Sunday came despite the updated guidance on face coverings and the U.S. seeing Covid cases rapidly fall. 

Dr Anthony Fauci has also said there was an ‘extremely low’ risk of contracting Covid indoors after getting fully vaccinated. 

On Sunday, the US reported 104,104 new cases, bringing the total to 76,458,144. The US seven-day average case average was 313,028.

Nationally, the average daily confirmed COVID cases is half of what was reported less than two weeks ago and down from the peak of nearly 806,000 infections a day on Jan. 15.  

The US also reported 902,266 coronavirus deaths, an increase of 875, and a seven-day average of 2,455, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins.

The US tally marks an increase of more than 100,000 fatalities nationwide since Dec. 12, coinciding with a surge of infections and hospitalizations driven by the Omicron variant.   

Cases have been declining in 49 states in the last two weeks, by Johns Hopkins’ count, and the 50th, Maine, reported that confirmed infections are falling there, too, dropping sharply over the past week.

Also, the number of Americans in hospital with COVID-19 has declined 15% since mid-January to about 124,000.

Deaths are still running high at more than 2,400 per day on average, the most since last winter. The death toll from Covid hit 900,000 on Friday, less than two months after eclipsing 800,000. And deaths are on the rise in at least 35 states, reflecting the lag between when victims become infected and when they succumb.

Still, public health officials have expressed hope that the worst of omicron is coming to an end. While they caution that things could still go bad again and dangerous new variants could emerge, some places are already talking about easing precautions.

Los Angeles County may end outdoor mask requirements in a few weeks, Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.

‘Post-surge does not imply that the pandemic is over or that transmission is low, or that there will not be unpredictable waves of surges in the future,’ she warned.

Despite its wealth and its world-class medical institutions, the U.S. has the highest reported toll of any country, and even then, the real number of lives lost directly or indirectly to the coronavirus is thought to be significantly higher.

In terms of statewide COVID measures, the US currently has 11 states implementing a mask mandate for indoor and public spaces with some requiring its use regardless of vaccination status. 

Earlier in the pandemic, many US states required the use of a mask in indoor public spaces with many bringing the mandate back due to the surge in cases as a result of new variants including Delta and Omicron. 

Last month, a New York judge ruck down the state’s mask mandate one week before it was due to expire, ruling the governor did not have authority to impose the rule without approval from the state legislature. 

But New York state education officials are telling schools to keep enforcing Gov. Kathy Hochul’s indoor mask mandate even after a Long Island judge struck down the requirement on Monday. 

The Education Department says the state plans to appeal the January ruling, a step that could keep the rule in place at least until its planned expiration on February 1. 

‘While these legal steps occur, it is NYSED’s position that schools should continue to follow the mask rule,’ said department spokesperson Emily DeSantis. 

Judge Thomas Rademaker struck down the state’s mask mandate. He said that legislators’ decision to declare New York no longer in a state of emergency means the new measures forcing residents to wear masks in all indoor spaces, which carry fines of up to $1,000 for those who do not comply, are unenforceable and are now void.

Gov. Hochul’s mandate ‘is a law that was promulgated and enacted unlawfully by an executive branch state agency, and therefore void and unenforceable,’ the Judge Rademaker said Monday. 

It was latest setback for executive branch officials at state and federal levels after much legal wrangling over the issue of mask mandates in different states. 

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul said she disagreed with the ruling, and Attorney General Letitia James tweeted that her office would challenge it.

Earlier last month, the US Supreme Court also blocked President Joe Biden’s vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses.

A judge in Texas last week ruled that Biden could not require federal employees to be vaccinated. 

Disagreements and court action over mandates in a number of states have become a flashpoint of the pandemic response in the United States, often dividing Democrats and Republicans.