Mission creep
It cannot be stressed enough that the totalitarian social controls associated with COVID have experienced mission creep. This means that they’re now being deployed for things other than COVID. This is in addition to the fact that these measures have now lasted almost four years despite promises they would only last two weeks. They weren’t even lifted when a vaccine was released, despite further promises regarding that.
All of this is on top of the fact that the threshold for reinstating these measures has gotten lower and lower. A Rhode Island hospital just reinstated its mask mandate, even as the state’s medical director admitted that COVID case counts are lower than at this time last year. In fact, the newest version of the CDC’s map—updated a week ago—shows that all five counties in Rhode Island are seeing “low” COVID transmission.
Other hospitals and institutions are also bringing back mask mandates—not because of COVID, but because of the flu or RSV. These are not even novel viruses. WGBH’s Liz Neisloss reports that “hospitals say the rise in a range of respiratory viruses, like RSV and various strains of influenza, is also behind the call to mask up.” In other words, masks aren’t just for COVID now.
And the plan is to make it permanent. The story continues, “And while using masks to prevent infectious disease transmission is not a new concept, experts consider them a public health lesson from the pandemic.” Translation: it’s forever.
“We have a tool that is not just specific to COVID,” said a Boston Medical Center infectious disease specialist. “We’ve had this understanding from COVID that we can protect our health care workers, our patients, and our staff by using the same mask mandates that were helpful during the pandemic.” In other words, mask mandates have outlasted the pandemic. In effect, she is admitting the pandemic is over, but mandates will continue.
It isn’t just masks, and it isn’t just viruses. Argentina’s new right-wing President Javier Milei learned from lockdowns that they could come in handy to suppress dissent. Milei has proposed a new bill to punish anyone who organizes a protest with up to six years in prison. Any gathering of three or more people would be considered a demonstration and would be subject to this law. Milei’s proposal would also declare the entire country to be in a state of emergency all the way to the end of 2025, giving him broader powers.
Mission creep surrounding COVID measures has actually been under way for a couple years. In January 2022, schools in Paterson, New Jersey, closed again—even though the city boasted that 100 percent of eligible residents were fully vaccinated. A year later—in January 2023—Paterson schools enacted a new mask mandate, despite the supposed unanimity in vaccination. School officials then said the reason for the new mandate was a low vaccination rate—completely contradicting what had been claimed earlier. However, the flu and RSV—not just COVID—were used as excuses for the new mandate.
Despite being vastly inferior to in-person school, remote schooling had been normalized so much over two years that more schools tried using it as a cure-all for crises other than communicable diseases. In May 2022, schools in Alexandria, Virginia, returned to remote classes because of the tragic fatal stabbing of a student that took place away from school. Remote instruction wasn’t just used for crises but also for scheduled events, as many Georgia schools announced they would conduct remote classes on the day of the December 2022 runoff election.
An op-ed by three faceless unknowns from Brown University appeared on NBC’s website in November 2022 demanding new mask mandates—not because of COVID, but because of the flu and RSV. The piece suggested a mask season to last in perpetuity, in addition to a permanent mask mandate in certain venues, saying, “We should always encourage mask-wearing during fall and winter seasons ... and in busy places like mass transit and grocery stores.” This shows again the mission creep of masks and how they were intended all along to be a permanent requirement.
It was around that time that numerous healthcare facilities enacted mask mandates entirely because of the flu or RSV—not COVID.
Even Zoom had mission creep. In January 2023, an online commenter said the parent-teacher organization at their children’s school still held meetings only over Zoom. Yet they canceled a Zoom meeting all because it was raining outside.
In June 2023—long, long after COVID had been reduced to a tiny fraction of its former prevalence—Chile ordered a mask mandate in schools to combat RSV. It had nothing whatsoever to do with COVID. This mandate was scheduled to last 2½ months. The mandate applied to children ages five and up—even though the virus primarily afflicted infants under a year old.
All of these events prove that warnings of mission creep were not a conspiracy theory but a spoiler.
Hopefully, we can get some public officials who will say enough is enough. Lockdowns and other restrictions violate constitutional and other legal protections in many countries, and officials are obligated to follow these principles.