DC Mayor lifts mask mandate, media silent

On Friday, Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser lifted the masking requirement for individuals who have been fully vaccinated, even indoors. The media, for some reason, has largely avoided reporting on this.

The guidelines have been updated for people who have received all required doses of the vaccine, except people who are actively showing symptoms of COVID, and allow for relaxing of masking and social distancing rules, with a few exceptions, which have been listed here below:

• 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.

Mayor Bowser has also recently been in the public light regarding the push for DC to be recognized as a 51st state of the United States.