Mask Mandates Are Starting to Come Back

Leah Barkoukis | December 16, 2022 4:00 PM

With flu, RSV, and COVID-19 spiking across the country, masks are beginning to make a comeback.

Los Angeles County is advising everyone 2 and older to mask up in indoor public settings due to the rise of respiratory viruses circulating.

Los Angeles Public Health officials are asking residents to “mask up” once again as COVID cases increase in the region.https://t.co/N3NjBZ3B8w
— KTLA (@KTLA) December 10, 2022

The School District of Philadelphia is mandating masks for 10 days after winter break and they’re encouraging children to wear surgical masks or a well-fitted KN95 or N95 masks.

A mask mandate returns to Philadelphia schools for the first half of January.

Philly bars and stadiums will be packed and mask-free to start 2023.

But don’t worry, Little Timmy will mask in speech therapy for a FOURTH straight year to make adults feel safe!

Cruel and unhinged.
— Justin Spiro, LCSW (@Jusrangers) December 15, 2022

NYC schools are not mandating them yet, but did send families a message strongly encouraging the use of well-fitted masks. New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan is also advising residents use them in indoor settings, calling masks a "common sense precaution."

The State University of New York at Purchase reinstated its indoor mask mandate over high COVID-19 levels, while Nassau County Community College did too before quickly reversing and making it an advisory.

In Alameda County, California, COVID cases are high enough that per California state law, health officials have to bring back mask requirements in high-risk settings, such as prisons, emergency shelters, and homeless shelters.

"These kids were raised in a bubble. They have no immunity to any common cold. They are getting so sick and they are getting sick back to back to back," Dr. Dyan Hes of Gramercy Pediatrics told FOX Business' Madison Alworth. "So what's going to happen when you remask them? They'll go back in their bubble."