Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) moment with a reporter asking if he would put his face mask on is going viral.
“Would you mind putting on a mask for us?” a reporter asked Cruz during a Senate presser on Wednesday.
The senator replied, “Yeah, when I’m talking to the TV camera, I’m not going to wear a mask. All of us have been immunized, so…”
“It’d make us feel better,” the reporter responded.
Cruz then added, “You’re welcome to step away if you’d like. The whole point of the vaccine– CDC guidance is what we’re following.”
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1374875375294164994
Cruz later responded to the video of his interaction, tweeting, “Lefty reporters have lost their minds. #commonsense.”
MSNBC reported on Cruz’s remarks, saying he ignored U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines during the moment. Dr. Nahid Bhadelia noted that unless everyone else in the room is vaccinated, Cruz is “not following CDC guidance.”
“We do know vaccines reduce transmission, but given everything we know about the number of people that still need to get vaccinated” and the different COVID-19 variants, it is “just good public health example” to continue wearing a mask, Bhadelia said.
The CDC advises that “fully vaccinated people can gather indoors without physical distancing or wearing masks” with others who are fully vaccinated or “unvaccinated people from one other household, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.”
However, the CDC recommends, “until more is known, fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart from other people in other settings, like when they are in public or visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been vocal about whether vaccinated people should continue to wear a mask, previously grilling Dr. Anthony Fauci on the topic, as IJR reported on.
