Month: July 2021

Massachusetts Prison System Sued Over Unreliable Drug Tests That Put Inmates in Solitary


featuredrug1

A new class action lawsuit accuses the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) of using a notoriously unreliable field test to detect contraband drugs. The suit argues that this has put people in solitary confinement for offenses they didn’t commit and led to public defenders being falsely accused of sending drug-tainted mail to their clients.

The lawsuit, filed in state court by Justice Catalyst Law and the law firm BraunHagey & Borden, says that the DOC uses tests developed by the company Sirchie to detect synthetic cannabinoids even though those tests have an error rate so high that they’re akin to “witchcraft, phrenology or simply picking a number out of a hat.”

“We brought this lawsuit to protect disempowered people incarcerated by the DOC from the unconscionable decision to use these tests in the face of overwhelming evidence of their inaccuracy,” Ellen Leonida, a partner at BraunHagey & Borden, said in a press release. “We also intend to hold the drug companies liable for knowingly profiting from the misuse of these tests and the misery they are causing.”

As Reason reported earlier this year, problematic drug field test kits are manufactured by several different companies and are used by police departments and prison systems across the country. The test kits use instant color reactions to indicate the presence of certain compounds found in illegal drugs, but those same compounds are also found in dozens of known licit substances.

Over the years, hundreds of wrongful arrests have been based on these field tests. Last year in Georgia, a college football quarterback was arrested after bird poop on his car tested positive for cocaine. In prison systems, where officials are trying to stop a flood of contraband drugs such as the synthetic cannabinoids known as “K2” or “spice,” inmates can be placed in solitary confinement and be stripped of good behavior credits, visitations, and other privileges.

The manufacturers warn that the results of these tests need to be verified, and Massachusetts prisons at least send all field tests to outside labs for confirmation. This eventually captures false positives, but it still leaves inmates to suffer in the meantime.

WBUR reported last October that more than a dozen Massachusetts attorneys said they had been falsely accused of sending drugs to their incarcerated clients, who were then put in solitary confinement for receiving legitimate legal mail. (One way K2 is smuggled into prisons is by lacing paper with it, which has led prison systems to crack down on outside mail and donated books.)

Criminal defense attorney Lisa Newman-Polk, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told WBUR that one of her clients was moved to a restrictive housing unit, lost his prison job, and couldn’t begin an education program after privileged legal mail she sent him tested “positive” for K2. A crime lab later invalidated those results.

“The fact that my client was just scooped up, kicked out of a really important college program that’s important for his reentry—it’s important for his mental health—and thrown into restricted housing for something he did not do, based on such feeble evidence, is wrong,” Newman-Polk told WBUR.

After poking around, Newman-Polk found 16 other attorneys were accused of sending drug-laced mail to clients.

Those tests aren’t even supposed to be used with paper samples, because the dyes and other chemicals in mass-produced paper can lead to inaccurate results.

“It’s just not designed to work that way,” Heather Harris, an assistant professor of forensic science at Arcadia University, told Reason. “Right off the bat, when you have a piece of paper and you pull out your field test kit, you’ve made the wrong decision. That’s not going to give you a reliable result.”

The well-known unreliability of these tests have led at least one state prison system to stop using them. Last summer, the New York Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) suspended use of Sirchie’s tests.

The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, a union of state correctional workers, told local news outlets that DOCCS had found there were false-positive results with the testing kits being used to identify contraband drugs. “Inmates who were penalized for contraband drugs have been released from special housing units and their records were expunged,” The Auburn Citizen reported last August.

Despite this, these types of test kits are still widely used. And in the federal Bureau of Prisons, inmates have no legal right to request outside verification of a positive result, leaving them with no recourse to fight a bogus result.

Reason found one case where a federal inmate was put in solitary confinement for a month after some herbs that he kept in a pouch tested positive for amphetamines. The man convinced prison officials to send the suspected drugs to a real crime lab for verification. But the Bureau of Prisons hid the results for two years until a federal judge ordered it to respond to his lawsuit. The lab had found no drugs.

The class action lawsuit in Massachusetts asks a judge to declare that the DOC’s use of Sirchie’s NARK II tests on legal mail, and its punishment of inmates based on the results, violates incarcerated people’s constitutional right to due process and their right to legal counsel.

The DOC declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation. Sirchie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Massachusetts Prison System Sued Over Unreliable Drug Tests That Put Inmates in Solitary


featuredrug1

A new class action lawsuit accuses the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) of using a notoriously unreliable field test to detect contraband drugs. The suit argues that this has put people in solitary confinement for offenses they didn’t commit and led to public defenders being falsely accused of sending drug-tainted mail to their clients.

The lawsuit, filed in state court by Justice Catalyst Law and the law firm BraunHagey & Borden, says that the DOC uses tests developed by the company Sirchie to detect synthetic cannabinoids even though those tests have an error rate so high that they’re akin to “witchcraft, phrenology or simply picking a number out of a hat.”

“We brought this lawsuit to protect disempowered people incarcerated by the DOC from the unconscionable decision to use these tests in the face of overwhelming evidence of their inaccuracy,” Ellen Leonida, a partner at BraunHagey & Borden, said in a press release. “We also intend to hold the drug companies liable for knowingly profiting from the misuse of these tests and the misery they are causing.”

As Reason reported earlier this year, problematic drug field test kits are manufactured by several different companies and are used by police departments and prison systems across the country. The test kits use instant color reactions to indicate the presence of certain compounds found in illegal drugs, but those same compounds are also found in dozens of known licit substances.

Over the years, hundreds of wrongful arrests have been based on these field tests. Last year in Georgia, a college football quarterback was arrested after bird poop on his car tested positive for cocaine. In prison systems, where officials are trying to stop a flood of contraband drugs such as the synthetic cannabinoids known as “K2” or “spice,” inmates can be placed in solitary confinement and be stripped of good behavior credits, visitations, and other privileges.

The manufacturers warn that the results of these tests need to be verified, and Massachusetts prisons at least send all field tests to outside labs for confirmation. This eventually captures false positives, but it still leaves inmates to suffer in the meantime.

WBUR reported last October that more than a dozen Massachusetts attorneys said they had been falsely accused of sending drugs to their incarcerated clients, who were then put in solitary confinement for receiving legitimate legal mail. (One way K2 is smuggled into prisons is by lacing paper with it, which has led prison systems to crack down on outside mail and donated books.)

Criminal defense attorney Lisa Newman-Polk, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told WBUR that one of her clients was moved to a restrictive housing unit, lost his prison job, and couldn’t begin an education program after privileged legal mail she sent him tested “positive” for K2. A crime lab later invalidated those results.

“The fact that my client was just scooped up, kicked out of a really important college program that’s important for his reentry—it’s important for his mental health—and thrown into restricted housing for something he did not do, based on such feeble evidence, is wrong,” Newman-Polk told WBUR.

After poking around, Newman-Polk found 16 other attorneys were accused of sending drug-laced mail to clients.

Those tests aren’t even supposed to be used with paper samples, because the dyes and other chemicals in mass-produced paper can lead to inaccurate results.

“It’s just not designed to work that way,” Heather Harris, an assistant professor of forensic science at Arcadia University, told Reason. “Right off the bat, when you have a piece of paper and you pull out your field test kit, you’ve made the wrong decision. That’s not going to give you a reliable result.”

The well-known unreliability of these tests have led at least one state prison system to stop using them. Last summer, the New York Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) suspended use of Sirchie’s tests.

The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, a union of state correctional workers, told local news outlets that DOCCS had found there were false-positive results with the testing kits being used to identify contraband drugs. “Inmates who were penalized for contraband drugs have been released from special housing units and their records were expunged,” The Auburn Citizen reported last August.

Despite this, these types of test kits are still widely used. And in the federal Bureau of Prisons, inmates have no legal right to request outside verification of a positive result, leaving them with no recourse to fight a bogus result.

Reason found one case where a federal inmate was put in solitary confinement for a month after some herbs that he kept in a pouch tested positive for amphetamines. The man convinced prison officials to send the suspected drugs to a real crime lab for verification. But the Bureau of Prisons hid the results for two years until a federal judge ordered it to respond to his lawsuit. The lab had found no drugs.

The class action lawsuit in Massachusetts asks a judge to declare that the DOC’s use of Sirchie’s NARK II tests on legal mail, and its punishment of inmates based on the results, violates incarcerated people’s constitutional right to due process and their right to legal counsel.

The DOC declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation. Sirchie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The “Real” Real Yield Is -4.15%… And We Are Stuck With It Forever

The “Real” Real Yield Is -4.15%… And We Are Stuck With It Forever

As we pointed out earlier this week, 10 year real yields spent the past few days trading around all-time lows. However, due to data limitations, we can only measure this using TIPS from 1997 onwards. So what do other measures that go back further show?

That is the question posed by Deutsche Bank credit strategist Jim Reid who plotted three real yield series;

  1. using TIPS back to 1997,

  2. subtracting spot inflation from spot 10yr yields through time,

  3. subtracting a rolling 5yr average of inflation from spot 10 year yields.

So using spot yields and inflation, Reid calculates that real yields are a “very low”, to put it mildly, -4.15% currently and the lowest since 1980 and not far off 70 year lows: “Clearly the market doesn’t believe 5.4% inflation is sustainable but it is what it is for now.”

On the other hand, using spot yields and 5yr average inflation, real yields were lower last summer when 10yr nominal yields were c.0.50% and 5-yr average inflation was c.1.7%. At this point they were at 70 year lows. They are 40 bps off this level currently. Nevertheless, according to Reid, this measure does do a good job of broadly tracking real yields as officially quoted using TIPS.

What does this mean? Well, it’s important because with real yields at what is basically all time lows, any attempts to push them higher will lead to a collapse in the financial system, as both Citi’s Matt King wrote in a recent must-read report, and as Jim Reid notes: 

“I’ve been on record over the last few years for saying that with debt so high real yields are likely to stay negative for the rest of my career as the authorities have to control funding this rising leverage. I’m even more convinced of this post pandemic. I hope if I’m wrong I can apologize and still have a career though.”

It gets scarier because as Reid concludes, “positive US real yields for any length of time would likely set off debt crises around the world so we are probably stuck with the regime.” 

That said, one can still have negative real yields and higher nominal yields. In fact, most of the big debt reductions seen through history have seen such a wide gap via higher inflation. In some ways we are seeing that now.

Looking ahead, Reid strongest conviction is that “real yields will stay notably negative, followed by a view that inflation will be higher going forward than it was over the last decade.”

And sure, that could happen in theory… as long as the Fed never ends QE. Which can also happen as long as the world keeps finding a major “crisis” every year or so to justify ever greater monetary stimulus and liquidity injections. Because one thing is certain: if the Fed turns off the hose, it’s game over.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/29/2021 – 15:45

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3icFPhH Tyler Durden

Biden Administration Will Not Extend Eviction Moratorium Because of Justice Kavanaugh

Last month, five Justices found that the federal eviction moratorium was unconstitutional. But only four of them were willing to do something about it. Justice Kavanaugh declined to enjoin the policy because the government did not plan on extending the moratorium past August. His decision gave holdover tenants nationwide a one-month reprieve from the law.

At the time, I wrote:

Justice Kavanaugh issued a clear ultimatum to the Biden Administration: if you extend the moratorium one more time, I’ll flip my vote. Congressional authorization is not needed now. But come August 1, I’ll boof up your executive action. In effect, Justice Kavanaugh is telling Biden to go to Congress, or throw 6 million people on the street.

The Biden Administration has announced it would not extend the policy one more time. And WH Press Secretary Psaki said Justice Kavanaugh tied her hands!

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.  In June, when CDC extended the eviction moratorium until July 31st, the Supreme Court’s ruling stated that “clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31.”

In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the President calls on Congress to extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay.

No, that sentence is not from the Supreme Court’s ruling. It was from Justice Kavanuagh’s concurrence.

Perhaps the worst ramification of this decision is that Justice Kavanaugh will feel like his cooperative approach to the separation of powers worked: I will look the other way while the government acts illegally, so long as they clean up their act real soon! The Biden Administration has reinforced one of Justice Kavanaugh’s worst tendencies. If it worked here, he’ll try it again. Every punch will be pulled to avoid actually disturbing the status quo.

On August 1, DOJ will argue that pending eviction moratorium cases have become moot. At least one case, Terkel v. CDC, should remain live. I filed an amicus brief in that constitutional challenge.

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Watch: Pelosi Bizarrely Declares Reason She Called GOP Leader A “Moron” Is “Science, Science, Science, And Science”

Watch: Pelosi Bizarrely Declares Reason She Called GOP Leader A “Moron” Is “Science, Science, Science, And Science”

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

After declaring that House GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy was a “moron” for saying he opposes the new mask mandate (even for fully vaccinated people), Nancy Pelosi just repeated the word “science” over and over again as justification.

When a reporter asked “Is Kevin McCarthy a moron, and if so, why?” Pelosi responded “I said earlier in my comment, science, science, science, and science.”

“On almost every subject that you can name, science is the answer,” Pelosi added, without actually giving any scientific explanation as to why vaccinated people have to wear masks that do not protect them or other people against anything.

“Whether it’s the climate crisis, whether it’s a health crisis, whether it’s our preeminence in the world and technology, science, science, science, science,” Pelosi bizarrely barked.

Watch:

Appearing Tucker Carlson’s show, GOP Congressman Chip Roy highlighted the insanity of Pelosi’s claims:

It’s science, morons!

*  *  *

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Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/29/2021 – 15:25

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3yfhFZo Tyler Durden

Biden Administration Will Not Extend Eviction Moratorium Because of Justice Kavanaugh

Last month, five Justices found that the federal eviction moratorium was unconstitutional. But only four of them were willing to do something about it. Justice Kavanaugh declined to enjoin the policy because the government did not plan on extending the moratorium past August. His decision gave holdover tenants nationwide a one-month reprieve from the law.

At the time, I wrote:

Justice Kavanaugh issued a clear ultimatum to the Biden Administration: if you extend the moratorium one more time, I’ll flip my vote. Congressional authorization is not needed now. But come August 1, I’ll boof up your executive action. In effect, Justice Kavanaugh is telling Biden to go to Congress, or throw 6 million people on the street.

The Biden Administration has announced it would not extend the policy one more time. And WH Press Secretary Psaki said Justice Kavanaugh tied her hands!

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.  In June, when CDC extended the eviction moratorium until July 31st, the Supreme Court’s ruling stated that “clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31.”

No, that sentence is not from the Supreme Court’s ruling. It was from Justice Kavanuagh’s concurrence.

Perhaps the worst ramification of this decision is that Justice Kavanaugh will feel like his cooperative approach to the separation of powers worked: I will look the other way while the government acts illegally, so long as they clean up their act real soon! The Biden Administration has reinforced one of Justice Kavanaugh’s worst tendencies. If it worked here, he’ll try it again. Every punch will be pulled to avoid actually disturbing the status quo.

On August 1, DOJ will argue that pending eviction moratorium cases have become moot. At least one case, Terkel v. CDC, should remain live. I filed an amicus brief in that constitutional challenge.

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Huge Unemployment Claims Gap Opens Between Red And Blue States

Huge Unemployment Claims Gap Opens Between Red And Blue States

Even though the debate died a month ago, every week some self-appointed financial “expert” brings up the of issue of whether unemployment claims in republican states are declining faster than in democratic states which are holding out until the bitter September end, when all extended emergency covid benefits are scheduled to end (unless the Biden admin extends them again… because Delta).

And while we thought we ended the debate on this topic last week when we showed that “Jobless Claims Are Plunging In Republican States, Flat In Democrat States“, we still read the occasional article claiming the jury is still out on this topic.

No, it isn’t, and here is the final proof which should shut up even the biggest socialist trolls.

As Goldman writes today, “continued claims in regular state programs diverged further between states that are and are not ending benefits ahead of their statutory expiration in September in the week ending July 17.”

And here is the stunning divergence in continuing claims between Red and Blue states in all its visual glory.

And with that, the debate whether Uncle Sam’s generous handouts contribute to the ongoing labor crisis is well and truly over.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/29/2021 – 15:08

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3BTcros Tyler Durden

Game Over

Game Over

Authored by Sven Henrich via NorthmanTrader.com,

Game over. Occam’s Razor: The simplest explanation is often the best one. Central banks will never extract themselves. Whether they ultimately end QE is besides the point. They won’t reduce their balance sheets. They can’t.

Powell’s “performance” yesterday was not an accident. He’s been running on the same theme of offering absolutely zero specifics. Why?

3 reasons:

1. There are none as there is no plan.

2. To maintain flexibility and not to be held accountable or anything

3. To not upset markets.

We saw this recently when he actually got challenged on MBS and QE. He couldn’t and wouldn’t offer a rationale as to what is actually economically accomplished by it:

Yesterday he clarified his “transitory” definition :

More importantly:

He doesn’t know. And why would he? There is zero precedent for this much combined liquidity from the fiscal and monetary side along with a rapid economic reopening with consumers’ pockets stuffed with free money from the government.

To inflate the stocks market and the housing market was the goal. The Bernanke script:

Now the bubble has gotten so large they can’t risk anything popping it:

Why? Because popping the largest asset bubble ever would result in a catastrophic reset, not only a recession, but a depression.

The reality is debt levels have so exploded in the past 13 years any pre GFC type interest rates (which were historically low back then) would collapse the entire system. They know it. I know it, you know it. The entire system is predicated on debt expansion and cheap money to sustain it. That’s it.

This is the only choice:

The only way to avert disaster is to keep expanding wealth inequality, disconnect asset prices from the economy ever further and keep telling everyone they do it for the downtrodden while the bottom 50% are the ones actually taking the bath with permanent price increases while their wages are not keeping up:

You will own nothing but be happy.

Yes it’s all absurd, but that’s the trap they’re in. Hence all this waffling about tapering is just performance art. Powell was again completely dovish and we see the reality reflected in real yields:

It’s the grand distortion that forces everyone and everything into equities.

The Rydex bear/bull ratio has reached a new all time low, everybody and their mothers are long stocks:

And they keep buying the dips more aggressively than ever:

Hence asset prices are on a permanent expansion path:

But earnings. Yes earnings are great. Why wouldn’t they be? We just had $10 trillion shoved into system. And now more stimulus in form of an infrastructure deal. Yet we must keep running emergency measures at a rate never seen before. Come on.

Powell again made it clear that inflation will not be a deciding factor to taper or raise rates. Only full employment. An entirely disingenuous argument as the Fed cut rates 3 times in 2019 when unemployment was at 50 year lows of 3.5%. Powell cites uncertainty. There’s always uncertainty. On this basis, and now with climate change self anointed as the next big central bank portfolio task the stage is set for QE to never end. The BOJ is already onto buying “green” bonds.

It will never end in our lifetimes unless something breaks in the now held hostage organic economy and/or markets which are 100% under the thumbs of central bank distortion and manipulation.

The sad truth is: Without continued central bank intervention everything would collapse. One can only imagine the absolute carnage in global markets if central banks were to stop QE and raise rates by a measly 1/4 point tomorrow. You all know it. And the Fed knows it. Hence this pathetic song and dance show that will continue for months and months before they actually will taper.

And what does taper actually mean? Nothing. If they reduce bond buying by $10B or $20B or even $30B per month they’re still running a larger QE program than during the GFC. It’s insane, especially given the ever more glaring dichotomy:

No, if Powell is smart he’ll gracefully exit next February and let someone else deal with the epic drama that is to unfold over the next few years. After all it would be a brilliant financial decision on his part, he could exit his all long stock portfolio and make a killing on the speaking circuit and laugh himself into the big fat book deal. Working title: The Savior. How I made myself and the top 1% really rich. No, that won’t be the title, but it may as well be, for that is the real effect of his policy.

The most financially conflicted Fed Chair in history, who financially benefits from every rally to new highs, has zero incentive to taper before his term is up. It’d hurt his personal financial net worth. And given Occam’s Razor, perhaps that’s the most obvious answer for the man who has no answers as to why he keeps printing despite an increasing chorus of people from even BlackRock on down urging him to stop:

All eyes now on Jackson Hole in August for the next hand wringing exercise in “evaluating substantial progress”.

My take: Even if they announce some sort of roadmap they won’t taper this year. One 10% correction, heck 7% correction, and it’s all off the table as more “uncertainty” suddenly makes the rounds. Jay Powell doesn’t want another Q4 2018. Not on his watch.

For the Fed remains market dependent and not data dependent. And so when Mohammed El-Erian asks: Is there an exit from QE:

The answer is a resounding no. Powell already hinted at maintaining the balance sheet for years when/if they taper. There is no plan or commitment to ever reduce it again. That experiment failed in 2018 and the ECB & BOJ didn’t even try. They’re all trapped & won’t admit it. That truth is self evident in the charts:

How do you unwind something like this without causing a giant equity and economic collapse? Occam’s Razor: You can’t. And hence no central bank is even pretending to speak about it. And no media organization is even bothering to ask them. Taper is a performance act to pretend to get back to some path of normal. News flash: There is no path to normal. The opportunity was there in 2017-2019 and they all failed to take advantage of it at the time and now the Fed has doubled its balance sheet again since last year. They couldn’t extract themselves from a $4.5 trillion balance sheet without blowing up markets. They sure as hell won’t be able to from an $8.2 trillion going on $9 trillion balance sheet. Game Over. Don’t play again.

What then does the future hold? Well, you heard it from Mohammed El-Erian: “the Fed will most likely continue to disconnect asset prices even more from fundamentals. Wealth inequality will worsen more. The Fed’s monthly purchases of $40B of MBS will continue to price people out of the housing market.”

How is this the Fed’s mandate? How will this accomplish anything other than fracture society even further to the core? How does propagating an ever larger asset bubble promote financial stability? Baffling. Investors won’t care about these questions at the moment as the gains keep coming. The questions will only get asked once the damage of the distortions will become self evident. By then it may be too late.

*  *  *

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Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/29/2021 – 14:48

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3lbMjPM Tyler Durden

D.C. Is the Latest City to Reimpose Its Mask Mandate for the Vaccinated


reason-bowser

It was good while it lasted. Washington, D.C., has become the latest city to reimpose a mask mandate, even for people who are fully vaccinated.

The new policy, which Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday, will require everyone over the age of two to wear a mask when at such indoor public settings as bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and gyms. The city is also recommending, but not requiring, that people wear masks in crowded outdoor settings as well—particularly people who are immunocompromised or live with someone who is.

The city is not reintroducing social distancing requirements or business capacity limits, but Bowser didn’t take those measures off the table. The mayor declined to say when the mask mandate would be lifted.

D.C. is the second major city to reimpose a masking requirement regardless of vaccination status. Los Angeles County did the same two weeks ago in response to rising cases there.

On Tuesday, in response to the increase in Delta-variant COVID cases, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that vaccinated Americans wear masks in certain settings.

San Francisco, per comments from Mayor London Breed, is weighing whether to reimpose a mask mandate; the city is currently encouraging the vaccinated to wear a mask indoors. New York is likewise “assessing” the new CDC guidance.

COVID-19 deaths in Los Angeles remain at their lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic. D.C. hasn’t reported a COVID-19 death since July 14. Of the 271 patients in D.C.’s intensive care units, just seven are COVID-positive.

Asked about enforcement, Bowser said she expected most D.C. residents to comply and felt they wouldn’t find putting a mask on a major “lift.” She also said that businesses could refuse service to people who don’t follow the rules. She didn’t announce any proactive enforcement efforts the city would be taking.

So that’s a silver lining to today’s announcement. Nevertheless, telling everyone to wear masks again sends a signal to venues, offices, and other places considering whether to reopen that it’s better to wait it out for a little while longer. Some individuals, meanwhile, will also stay home, either out of concern for their health or annoyance at the new requirement.

All of that will reduce the patronage at bars, restaurants, and other businesses that have reopened. Those who thought normality had returned might be forgiven for feeling a bit vexed at the new requirement.

Asked about whether people who got vaccinated as a means of returning to normal life would be mad at the new guidance, Bowser replied that she hadn’t been hearing angry reactions.

“I don’t hear anyone say that they’re duped,” the mayor said.

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D.C. Is the Latest City to Reimpose Its Mask Mandate for the Vaccinated


reason-bowser

It was good while it lasted. Washington, D.C., has become the latest city to reimpose a mask mandate, even for people who are fully vaccinated.

The new policy, which Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday, will require everyone over the age of two to wear a mask when at such indoor public settings as bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and gyms. The city is also recommending, but not requiring, that people wear masks in crowded outdoor settings as well—particularly people who are immunocompromised or live with someone who is.

The city is not reintroducing social distancing requirements or business capacity limits, but Bowser didn’t take those measures off the table. The mayor declined to say when the mask mandate would be lifted.

D.C. is the second major city to reimpose a masking requirement regardless of vaccination status. Los Angeles County did the same two weeks ago in response to rising cases there.

On Tuesday, in response to the increase in Delta-variant COVID cases, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that vaccinated Americans wear masks in certain settings.

San Francisco, per comments from Mayor London Breed, is weighing whether to reimpose a mask mandate; the city is currently encouraging the vaccinated to wear a mask indoors. New York is likewise “assessing” the new CDC guidance.

COVID-19 deaths in Los Angeles remain at their lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic. D.C. hasn’t reported a COVID-19 death since July 14. Of the 271 patients in D.C.’s intensive care units, just seven are COVID-positive.

Asked about enforcement, Bowser said she expected most D.C. residents to comply and felt they wouldn’t find putting a mask on a major “lift.” She also said that businesses could refuse service to people who don’t follow the rules. She didn’t announce any proactive enforcement efforts the city would be taking.

So that’s a silver lining to today’s announcement. Nevertheless, telling everyone to wear masks again sends a signal to venues, offices, and other places considering whether to reopen that it’s better to wait it out for a little while longer. Some individuals, meanwhile, will also stay home, either out of concern for their health or annoyance at the new requirement.

All of that will reduce the patronage at bars, restaurants, and other businesses that have reopened. Those who thought normality had returned might be forgiven for feeling a bit vexed at the new requirement.

Asked about whether people who got vaccinated as a means of returning to normal life would be mad at the new guidance, Bowser replied that she hadn’t been hearing angry reactions.

“I don’t hear anyone say that they’re duped,” the mayor said.

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