MSNBC just can’t quit the pandemic. On Wednesday’s Hallie Jackson Reports, medical contributor Dr. Kavita Patel declared that masks are even more necessary today than they were in the past and that pilots who made in-flight announcements on the striking down of the mask mandate put people’s lives at risk.
Guest host Garrett Haake wondered about the timing of the ruling:
You’ve cases having a bit of an uptick especially in the northeast. Obviously the decision to get rid of the mandate was a legal one made by a federal judge. From a public health standpoint, do you think it's an appropriate time to make that decision?
Patel responded by declaring “it's not an appropriate time to -- especially abruptly as it was done in mid-flight for some of these people, to take away masks.”
This was despite the fact that she admitted there is no crisis: “And here's why. We've got transmission going up. Hospitalizations and deaths have not gone up. That can be a bit of a lagging indicator. It can take several weeks. But so far signs of severe illness are good.”
If we should be forced to wear masks because of raising cases, Patel argued we should be forced to wear them because of low case numbers, “But Garrett, honestly, all of those things, everything we've had up until now has been with these mask requirements in place. So even though cases are rising and deaths and hospitalizations are not, it's the worst time to take away these protections.”
Patel never did provide a time that would be appropriate, which is unsurprising given her heads I win/tails you lose reasoning.
Still, even with low cases, widespread vaccine availability, and high quality air filtration on planes, Patel still argued masks are needed more than ever:
I think the administration is in a bind, though. We're dealing with the politics of masks over the last two years, but Omicron, the virus itself does not care about the politics and it's actually changed the equation of what we need to do to stay safe. The masks make a lot more sense even than they did a year ago, Garrett, when we had less contagious variants.
Mask mandates have been repealed across the country and by Patel’s own admission, things haven’t spiraled out of control. Yet, removing one more mandate risks undoing it all. That may not be logical, but it is what one can expect from MSNBC.
This segment was sponsored by Wayfair.
Here is a transcript for the April 20 show:
Hallie Jackson Reports
4/20/2022
3:29 PM ET
GARRETT HAAKE: So Dr. Patel, Gary mentioned it there. You’ve cases having a bit of an uptick especially in the northeast. Obviously the decision to get rid of the mandate was a legal one made by a federal judge. From a public health standpoint, do you think it's an appropriate time to make that decision?
KAVITA PATEL: Yeah, Garrett, it's not an appropriate time to -- especially abruptly as it was done in mid-flight for some of these people, to take away masks. And here's why. We've got transmission going up. Hospitalizations and deaths have not gone up. That can be a bit of a lagging indicator. It can take several weeks. But so far signs of severe illness are good. But Garrett, honestly, all of those things, everything we've had up until now has been with these mask requirements in place. So even though cases are rising and deaths and hospitalizations are not, it's the worst time to take away these protections. I think the administration is in a bind, though. We're dealing with the politics of masks over the last two years, but Omicron, the virus itself does not care about the politics and it's actually changed the equation of what we need to do to stay safe. The masks make a lot more sense even than they did a year ago, Garrett, when we had less contagious variants.
