Pennsylvania face mask mandates failed

OPINION:

Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf and his transgender health secretary Rachel Levine have demanded citizens in their state of Pennsylvania wear face masks for months as a means of combatting the coronavirus.

But the masks failed.

Coronavirus case counts are up.

And you’d think that would put to rest those silly notions that suggest throwing a cloth over one’s face can stop a teeny tiny invisibly teeny tiny virus from spreading — but of course, it won’t. It won’t because for most, for many in the political world, particularly in the left-leaning tyrannical side of the political world, the masks aren’t so much about citizen safety as they are about control.

“It is essential that Pennsylvanians wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” Levine said back in July, amid the government’s call for statewide mask wearing.

“My mask protects you, and your mask protects me,” Levine also said in July.

Apparently — not so much.

The state’s health bureaucrats reported 9,966 new cases of COVID-19 just this week, including 224 deaths.

Who knows if these numbers are true and honest; after all, all along the COVID-19 data reporting trail has been instance after instance of skewed figuring. Hospitals, for instance, have been incentivized almost since day one of the virus to inflate COVID-19 cases because a) governors have restricted their abilities to perform elective surgeries, and in so doing, clamped revenues and b) hospitals with the most cases of COVID-19 have, in many instances, the best chances of receiving taxpayer stimulus dollars to treat these patients.

So numbers can’t be trusted.

But neither can mask mandates.

Neither can the masks be trusted to actually do what government bureaucrats say they’re supposed to do — that is, “prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Here’s a clue to what the masks are actually doing, in Levine’s own words.

“Wearing a mask shows that you care about others and that you are committed to protecting the lives of those around you,” Levine said, also in July.

Virtue. Signalling.

Virtue signaling and obedience to government — those are the true purposes of face mask mandates.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.