Aidan Tyksinski, Staff

Last Monday, the White House announced that First Lady, Jill Biden, had tested positive for COVID-19. According to both CNN and AP News, Dr. Biden is experiencing only mild symptoms, and President Biden has tested negative multiple times. Multiple sources have claimed that both Bidens have been fully vaccinated and boosted, and after both fighting off Covid last year with no issues, there is no reason at this time to think either of them are in any danger.

The First Lady’s positive test comes at a time when cases around the country are on the rise. The CDC stopped putting out weekly reports of COVID-19 data in May of this year, making it much harder to find accurate numbers for hospitalization rates and deaths. What is known is that the increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths are still much lower now than they were at the peak of the pandemic. With the rise in cases, though, is a new wave of masking policies. One company who crept into the national spotlight recently due to bringing back masking was Lionsgate, an entertainment company based in Santa Clara, CA. The large corporation was required by the LA County Department to have most of their staff members use medical grade masks while around other staffers, according to both The Guardian and The Hollywood Reporter.

While some colleges and companies are also asking for citizens to wear masks, Huntington Beach in Orange County, CA went a different route. Last Wednesday, the City Council voted in a close 4-3 decision to ban mask mandates for any resident who does not have Covid. The Los Angeles Times and NBC Los Angeles have reported that both Orange County and Los Angeles County have seen a rise in cases, making the move even more controversial. ? can be enforced, since the state health departments are the ones that create health guidelines.

The debate on mask mandates has gone from local politics to the national election, with current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leading the charge. Early in the pandemic, Governor DeSantis was both celebrated and criticized for his choice to stop mandates in Florida during the deadliest months of the pandemic. In a recent press conference, DeSantis said, “We stood for people’s children, businesses and the ability to earn a living. We stood for people’s right to decline taking a COVID vaccine”. Later in the same press conference, DeSantis said “Now we are in a situation where you start to see around the country kids being kept out of school, forced masking of children around the country. These comments, as well as Dr. Biden’s positive test for covid, make it very clear that the virus is still very prominent as we enter three and a half years since the start of the pandemic.