https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cdc-mask-decision-stunning-findings-cape-cod-beach/story?id=79148102"Before Provincetown, health officials had been operating under the assumption that it was extraordinarily rare for a vaccinated person to become infected with the virus. And if they did, they probably wouldn't end up passing it on to others, such as children too young to qualify for the vaccine or people who were medically vulnerable.
The idea that vaccines halt transmission of the virus was largely behind the CDC's decision in May suggesting vaccinated people could safely go without their masks indoors and in crowds, even if others were unvaccinated.
But that assumption had been based on studies of earlier versions of the virus. Delta was known for its "hyper-transmissibility," or as one former White House adviser put it "COVID on steroids."
"What has changed is the virus," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and Biden's chief medical adviser.
When a vaccinated person gets infected with delta -- called a "breakthrough infection" -- "the level of virus in their nasopharynx is about 1,000 times higher than with the alpha variant," Fauci said in an interview Wednesday with MSNBC."
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So the Pollyannas at the CDC and the White House just succeeded in spreading the delta variant far and wide across America with their premature unmasking which even some random schlub on the internet from a mile away could see was a huge disaster in the making. And these are vaccinated spreading it amongst themselves too and then taking it back to their children and other unvaccinated (and vaccinated too for that matter) people in their households and giving them the virus as well because the CDC assured them that they wouldn't spread it if they'd been vaccinated.
Not wearing masks at the beginning was stupid but maybe people could feign ignorance because we haven't seen a virus like this in a hundred years but to do it right when we were starting to turn the corner after knowing how dangerous the virus is and seeing the delta variant catch fire around the world was a level of stupid that goes way beyond simple ignorance.
"Kevin McCarthy tweeted, "Make no mistake—the threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state."
"Pelosi's response, when asked about it: "He's such a moron."

She just tells it like it is. Right, cherry?"
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Pelosi is right on masks. She should have been sounding the alarm earlier though about there not being enough information to say it was safe for the vaccinated to go unmasked yet. But both sides are wrong in different ways.
Half of the country doesn't want masks or vaccines and the other half doesn't want to secure the border.
https://news.yahoo.com/ag-urges-texas-governor-rescind-223227558.html"Abbott claimed the decision, announced on Wednesday, is aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus, but the governor has made no move to mandate masks amid the new surge in cases."
So conservatives want to secure the border to fight the virus but say no to masks and vaccines while Democrats want to say yes to vaccines and were too wishy-washy on masks for all until just now when reality smacked them upside the head and for the entirety of the pandemic demand we keep the border spread wide open with no variant being turned away because that's racist. In other words, both sides are up for fighting the virus but in kind of the same way, with half their brains tied behind their backs. Maybe I'm one of the relative few who think we should be fighting this pandemic with every weapon in our arsenal. Instead we have fifth columns on both fronts helping the virus spread one way or another.