The White House is relaxing its mask mandate in time for President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to a memo sent to staff on Monday.
“Starting tomorrow, Tuesday, March 1, we will be lifting the requirement that fully vaccinated individuals wear masks on the White House campus,” the memo said. It added: “Some people will choose to continue wearing masks to protect themselves. We have to respect those choices.”
The policy for unvaccinated people visiting the White House will not change, a spokesman said: They will still need to be tested, wear masks and maintain social distancing. Nearly the entire White House staff has been vaccinated.
A person familiar with the White House mask guidelines said the memo was a first step toward the White House opening in the coming weeks, adding that the president and Jill Biden, the first lady, will be guests in will have the White House for food and drinks for the address on Tuesday. And so far, they have not attended White House events with refreshments as part of Covid safety protocols.
Congress’ attending physician said on Sunday that the House of Representatives would lift its mask mandate in time for Mr Biden’s address, and that all members of Congress could attend. Many states and cities across the country have also announced the end of mask mandates.
The White House move reflects how quickly the circumstances of the pandemic have changed in a matter of weeks, and how eager Mr Biden is to project a symbolic return to normalcy. Before last year’s State of the Union address, the president spoke to a mask-wearing audience in the Capitol that had been kept much smaller than usual to accommodate social distancing.
Nationally, the United States now has an average of about 66,000 new coronavirus cases per day, according to a DailyExpertNews database — a figure that has plummeted from a peak of more than 800,000 per day in mid-January to a level comparable to the height of the coronavirus epidemic. summer golf in july 2020.
Biden said in an interview taped before the Super Bowl on Feb. 13 that it was “probably premature” for states to lift mask mandates, though he acknowledged the decision was a “difficult one” and that action to contain the virus came at a cost. .
“Omicron and all its variants have had a profound impact on the psyche of the American people,” he said at the time.
Katie Rogers reporting contributed.
