An initiative that could have saved lives and helped normalize the wearing of masks at a key time in the pandemic era for those in the U.S. has, to the presumed surprise of no one, been revealed to have been halted by the current White House administration.
American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, released their findings on Thursday after obtaining nearly 10,000 pages of USPS-related documents through the Freedom of Information Act. Included in the documents, as seen below, was a draft of a press release that would have announced the Postal Service's delivery of 650 million reusable face masks in April.
As the press release states, this effort would have marked a partnership with the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as "a consortium" of textile manufacturers. Packages of five face masks would have been delivered to each residential delivery point and P.O. box and would have arrived with instructions on appropriate use as decided by health officials.
Speaking with the Washington Post, an administration official claimed there was "concern" from the White House Domestic Policy Council, as well as the office of VP Mike Pence, that masks being sent to households could have caused "panic."
Months into this pandemic, we are still routinely hearing and/or writing about petulant anti-maskers who are often seen wearing MAGA merch. Trump, meanwhile, has remained wildly inconsistent in his pandemic messaging, thus further sewing confusion among his supporters. If every household had received a pack of reusable masks back in April, especially if this effort had received a public word of endorsement from the White House, we'd arguably be in a much better spot as we move into the final months of 2020.
