School guidelines asking children to wear a mask “in between bites” of their lunch are “about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” said CNBC host Becky Quick during a “Squawk Box” interview Monday morning with Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the FDA.
“They actually said — one of my kids’ schools said — ‘We would appreciate it if students would wear masks at all times including in between bites’ … which is about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Quick said. “Maybe we can ask them to stop breathing in the buildings, too.”
Her remarks came as she asked Dr. Gottlieb to give parents better direction about coping with the Omicron variant. “You get to today being the first day back to school, and a lot of anxious parents trying to figure out what this is going to mean when we have seen the cases skyrocket, at least around us. Our school is not offering a virtual option. They made us feel better yesterday by saying, ‘Don’t worry, any day that it’s above 32 degrees we’re going to let the kids eat outside’ until I looked at the weather and saw every day this week it’s 20 degrees,” Quick said. Numerous school districts nationwide have compelled children to eat lunch outside, despite frosty temperatures. “It’s sad that school children in NYC are forced to eat lunch outside in freezing temperatures this winter due to the draconian and useless COVID policies pushed by AOC and her fellow progressives,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ (R) spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, told The Daily Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo last year.
The recommendation that people mask-up “in between bites” will sound familiar to many: California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) instructed families dining together over the 2020 holidays to wear a mask “in between bites.” His office tweeted that October: “Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend? Don’t forget to keep your mask on in between bites. Do your part to keep those around you healthy. #SlowTheSpread”
Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend? Don't forget to keep your mask on in between bites.
Do your part to keep those around you healthy. #SlowtheSpreadhttps://t.co/snYe5v55Rw pic.twitter.com/Y4fcDO5Zke
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) October 3, 2020
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the public health officer of San Diego, disagreed with Newsom’s guidance to sheath one’s face between bites when it was offered.
Photographers caught Newsom dining at a gourmet restaurant in Napa, the French Laundry, on November 6, 2020, alongside the CEO of the California Medical Association, Dustin Corcoran, and its top lobbyist, Janus Norman, to celebrate the 50th birthday of yet another lobbyist with close ties to Newsom, Jason Kinney. None of the photos showed the diners wearing masks, nor did they appear to observe social distancing.
EXCLUSIVE: We've obtained photos of Governor Gavin Newsom at the Napa dinner party he's in hot water over. The photos call into question just how outdoors the dinner was. A witness who took photos tells us his group was so loud, the sliding doors had to be closed. 10pm on @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/gtOVEwa864
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 18, 2020
Outrage over the dinner led to a statewide recall election, which Newsom survived.
Quick’s interview ended on a hopeful note, as Gottlieb said the Omicron variant seemed to indicate that the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic was winding down. “We’ll be in the throes of this for maybe a month,” said Dr. Gottlieb, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “On the back end of this, hopefully, we’re done with COVID for a while. We’ll have enough immunity in the population between vaccination and infections.”
“Among states reporting, children ranged from 1.8%-4.1% of their total cumulated hospitalizations, and 0.1%-1.8% of all their child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. “In states reporting, 0.00%-0.03% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.