The White House has struck its masking and social distancing mandate for unvaccinated guests who planned to attend President Joe Biden’s event honoring National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion teams.
In a Saturday email, the White House Office of Legislative Affairs revised its COVID-19 guidelines for guests attending the NCAA event that was scheduled for Monday. Biden canceled his appearance at the event due to ongoing soreness from the first part of a root canal procedure he had Sunday, so Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in.
The initial guidelines sent around last week said fully “vaccinated guests are not required to wear a mask on the White House grounds” and that guests “who are not fully vaccinated must wear a mask at all times and maintain at least 6 feet distance from others while on the White House grounds.”
“We inadvertently sent out outdated masking guidance for events at the White House,” the Saturday email carrying the latest masking guidance reads. “Please see below for the most up to date guidance.”
The new masking guidance states that “masks are not required” for the event.
The White House previously told Fox News Digital that the COVID-related guidance in the initial email was out of date and inadvertently included.
The White House email comes as hospitals and other health care facilities increasingly discard their masking rules as COVID becomes a smaller presence for most Americans in daily life.
Meanwhile, experts have been calling into question the efficacy of face masks. A recent study published by Cochrane Library, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, dug into the findings of 78 randomized controlled trials to determine whether “physical interventions” – including face masks and hand-washing – lessened the spread of respiratory viruses.
The conclusion about masks undercuts the scientific basis for masking, according to the study’s lead author.
“There is just no evidence that they make any difference. Full stop,” Tom Jefferson, the study’s lead author, said in an interview. When asked specifically about fitted N95 masks in health care settings, Jefferson said, “It makes no difference, none of it.”