D.C. Mayor Quietly Lifts Mask Requirements For Fully Vaccinated...Never Mind...
Quote:With little fanfare, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday eased mask mandates for those who have been fully vaccinated from the coronavirus.
The mayor’s office released updated guidance relating to masks in the District, with particular focus on those who have received both dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In the section titled “Special Rules for Persons Who are Fully Vaccinated,” the new guidance states that unless someone is showing COVID-19 symptoms or has been diagnosed with the disease, a fully vaccinated person can:
Gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask or staying six feet apart;
Gather indoors with unvaccinated people of any age from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives who all live together) without masks or staying six feet apart, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19;
Gather or conduct activities outdoors without wearing a mask except in crowded settings or venues;
Travel in the United States without pre-departure, post-arrival, or post-return testing for COVID-19, unless exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19;
Resume activities following travel without need to self-quarantine;
Travel internationally without getting tested beforehand or self-quarantining afterwards, unless the destination country requires such testing before arrival.
However, even fully vaccinated persons must: (a) show a negative test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding an international flight to the United States; and (b) get tested for COVID-19 three to five days after return from international travel.
Continue activities following exposure to someone with COVID-19, without need for testing or self-quarantine, unless the vaccinated person is symptomatic for COVID-19 or lives in a group setting such as a correctional institution, congregate care facility, or other group home, in which case self-quarantine for 14 days and testing are still required; and
Be exempt from routine screening test requirements at any facility or among any group, unless they show symptoms of COVID-19 and unless the rules of that organization require screenings tests, notwithstanding vaccination status.
The new guidance also has specific rules for wearing masks indoors:
Persons other than those who are fully vaccinated must wear a mask in the common areas of apartments, condominiums and cooperatives when passing through for a fleeting time. For events or longer stays in such common areas, even fully vaccinated people must continue to wear masks.
Businesses, office buildings, and other establishments open to members of the public shall post signage on their exterior doors stating that a person may not enter unless the person is wearing a mask or is fully vaccinated. In addition, the business, office building, or other establishment shall exclude or attempt to eject persons who are not wearing masks or who remove their required masks, except in circumstances where the person is fully vaccinated and is permitted to conduct their activities without wearing a mask…
Employers shall provide masks to their employees and may establish rules for mask wearing at their offices or facilities that are more stringent than the rules set forth herein.
Businesses and other institutions are authorized to request to see someone’s vaccine card or other adequate proof of vaccination to verify whether they need to wear a mask within the establishment or at the event, consistent with any applicable federal or local law.
If a business or other institution should require vaccination for admittance, registration, or employment, it must provide exceptions for those who are medically unable to be vaccinated and admit such persons, provided they are wearing a mask, on the other terms afforded to persons who are able to be vaccinated and who have been vaccinated, and must make such other accommodations for those whose sincerely held religious beliefs forbid them from being vaccinated. However, any one-time donation or incentive for those who are fully vaccinated need not be provided to those who are exempt from vaccination for medical or religious reasons.
The order still asks that unvaccinated people continue to wear a mask outdoors and in taxis, rideshares, and other public transit. Fully vaccinated people are exempt from this but only “in contained areas such as the conductor’s vehicle or in an information kiosk.”
Bowser’s decision to greatly ease mask requirements follows similar moves in Florida and other states.
RE: D.C. Mayor Quietly Lifts Mask Requirements For Fully Vaccinated People, Even Indoors
The Feds won't crack down on DC because they live in DC and the DC government knows it.
I guess DC falls under the good for thee but not for me exclusion.
The governed plebs (rest of the country) has to keep wearing masks but not the "rule makers" aka patricians that live in DC.
DC does not need to be its own state. It has more power as is than any other state.
"...If you’re confused, you aren’t alone. The agency moved from saying pregnant women should get the jabs to suggesting they could. And these are our high priests of COVID guidance?
They can’t even tell us whether pregnant women should get the vaccine, but we should dutifully listen to them about masking kids, who are at minuscule risk from the disease and transmit it at a lower rate?
How low is the risk to kids? According to the CDC, 266 kids ages 0 to 17 have died of COVID-19. Every single death is a tragedy. But during the 2018-2019 flu season, 477 kids in that age range died of the regular flu, and we didn’t take to hiding our kids under their beds.
Also in 2019, we lost 2,545 kids under 18 to traffic accidents, 776 to drowning and a devastating 2,156 to suicide. We didn’t stop sending kids to school. We didn’t ban cars or swimming pools. We understood that we live in a world of risk, that we send our children out daily and pray that they make it home.
We need perspective — and fast. We need to stop listening to an organization that has discredited itself...."
"...If you’re confused, you aren’t alone. The agency moved from saying pregnant women should get the jabs to suggesting they could. And these are our high priests of COVID guidance?
They can’t even tell us whether pregnant women should get the vaccine, but we should dutifully listen to them about masking kids, who are at minuscule risk from the disease and transmit it at a lower rate?
How low is the risk to kids? According to the CDC, 266 kids ages 0 to 17 have died of COVID-19. Every single death is a tragedy. But during the 2018-2019 flu season, 477 kids in that age range died of the regular flu, and we didn’t take to hiding our kids under their beds.
Also in 2019, we lost 2,545 kids under 18 to traffic accidents, 776 to drowning and a devastating 2,156 to suicide. We didn’t stop sending kids to school. We didn’t ban cars or swimming pools. We understood that we live in a world of risk, that we send our children out daily and pray that they make it home.
We need perspective — and fast. We need to stop listening to an organization that has discredited itself...."
RE: D.C. Mayor Quietly Lifts Mask Requirements For Fully Vaccinated...Never Mind...
Quote:Democratic Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has banned dancing at wedding receptions because of COVID-19.
The mayor issued the order last week along with new masking policies and changes in other restrictions for businesses and gatherings. The dance policy specifically has caused a nightmare for some wedding planners as they try to move their events to venues outside the city, according to WUSA 9.
Stephanie Sadowski of SRS Events said she was “completely shell-shocked” at Bowser’s order. “There’s hardly been any time to react, rather than being incredibly frustrated and angry with Washington, D.C., and Mayor Bowser for completely blindsiding us,” she said.
Bowser’s order not only bans people from dancing, but even just standing at a wedding reception. The order states:
Beginning May 1, multi-purpose facilities and venues may host events such as weddings and special non-recurring events provided that there may be no more than twenty five percent (25%) of capacity in any room or up to two hundred fifty (250) persons, not including facility staff, whichever is fewer. A waiver is needed for attendance greater than two hundred fifty (250) persons. Attendees and guests must remain seated and socially distanced from each other or other household groups. If these events include dining, facilities and venues shall adhere to the rules established for restaurants and licensed food establishments. Standing and dancing receptions are not allowed.
Updated regulations have caused frustration amid a number of business owners who felt that Bowser’s changes in COVID-19 restrictions were being crafted without input from the district’s businesses. Restaurant and store owners in the city complained about confusing mask guidance the mayor issued on Friday allowing vaccinated people to go maskless inside. The order also allowed store workers to ask for proof of vaccination, a form of “vaccine passport” policy that some states have outright banned.
“We are very confused as to what we can do and what we can’t do,” Mark Bucher, co-founder of the restaurant Medium Rare, told The Washington Post. “That can be a case of the right hand not talking to the left hand, but it isn’t easy for us to distill the tea leaves.”
Ian Hilton, who owns a number of bars and restaurants in Washington, said the new mask rules would cause more anger and pit the vaccinated against the unvaccinated.
“My read tells me you can have stricter ‘house rules’ but of course that will lead to more confrontations between staff and customers. Should have focused on increasing capacity rather than drawing the battle lines between the vaxxed and unvaxxed. A further divided world awaits,” he tweeted.
Bowser issued updated regulations on Saturday, again revamping the city’s masking policies and apparently backtracking from the order allowing vaccinated people to walk unmasked through stores and restaurants. The new order still allows workers to ask for proof of vaccination, however. The Post reported on the new order:
By 6:45 p.m. Saturday, an updated order on the city’s website reiterated the CDC rules and said simply that “businesses and other institutions are authorized to request to see someone’s vaccine card or other adequate proof of vaccination, consistent with any applicable federal or local law.”
The Saturday evening order no longer included language that said businesses, offices and other public establishments should post signs saying people cannot enter unless they’re wearing masks or are fully vaccinated as the previous order did. The new order also didn’t include language about having businesses eject people who weren’t wearing masks if they weren’t fully vaccinated or otherwise exempt.
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[NEWS] D.C. Mayor Quietly Lifts Mask Requirements For Fully Vaccinated...Never Mind...
