“The CDC does not mandate anything,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci. But if a Covid surge leads to a recommendation that people wear masks, “I hope they would abide by the recommendation and take into account the risks to themselves and to their families. We are not talking about forcing anybody to do anything.”
Maybe the take is that without masks, everyone would have had covid already and immunized themselves to it? Given how fast covid seems to evolve I don’t think this interpretation is true, but at least it’s coherent