Cruz no longer wears a mask in the Capitol

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Thursday that he will no longer be wearing a mask at the Capitol since he is fully vaccinated. Cruz told CNN:

"At this point I've been vaccinated. Everybody working in the Senate has been vaccinated. CDC has said in small groups, particularly with people who were vaccinated, don't need to wear masks."

Cruz and many other lawmakers have been fully vaccinated against the virus, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still recommending vaccinated people wear masks in large groups of people since many have not been fully vaccinated yet. Some Capitol staffers and reporters are still waiting to be fully vaccinated, with one reporter asking Cruz last month to wear a mask during a press event. Cruz told the reporter:

"Uh, yeah, when I'm talking in front of the TV cameras I'm not going to wear a mask. And all of us have been immunized, so... You're welcome to step away if you like. The whole point of a vaccine ... CDC guidance is what we're following."

The House requires that lawmakers wear masks, but the Senate does not.

Cruz is joining Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) in walking around the Capitol and on the Senate floor without a mask.

Wearing a mask after being fully vaccinated has become another political fight between Democrats and Republicans, with Democrats saying masks are still needed and Republicans arguing that a vaccine is pointless if you can't go back to living life as before the pandemic began.

Health officials say the U.S. needs to aim for herd immunity before significant changes are made, which won't happen until 70 percent to 85 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

The Hill has reached out to Cruz's office for comment.

Reader Comments

Rowan Cocoan · 2021-04-17T19:26:00Z

Imagine this as a headline. Well you don't have to because it's right there.

Inanity of inanities; all is inanity. RCclesiastes.

R.C.

bj0311 · 2021-04-18T11:50:55Z

Rowan Cocoan Along those lines, I think about Major Clipton a lot these days. [Link]

Rowan Cocoan · 2021-04-18T11:58:26Z

bj0311 One of my father's (and my) favorite movies. I've forgotten the characters' names but a GREAT flick. For me the most memorable was the scene just before your link. (This is by memory - I last saw it over 20? years ago.) British guy finally realizing what he'd been doing, going to fix it, getting shot, and staggering and falling on the plunger, dead. The bridge then becomes your shot.*

That was a movie! I've gotta say David Lean knew what he was doing!

RC

*Did you know that the same bridge was also used for filming DePalma's (I think) Vietnam flick - I'm blanking on the name. Foxx & Penn were both in it. (Foxx & Penn - That sounds like a knockoff magic show. )

rc

bj0311 · 2021-04-20T12:24:58Z

Rowan Cocoan Casualties of War (1989) I have an immense collection of movies from the 1910s to the present thanks to a VPN and yts.mx.

LadyRad · 2021-04-17T19:58:44Z

Cruz and many other lawmakers have been fully vaccinated against the virus, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still recommending vaccinated people wear masks in large groups of people since many have not been fully vaccinated yet.

Why would it matter - in a normal world? It’s a new sheep program to coerce the unjabbed to submit to the cult. Posed that question recently to a little Nazi jabbed sheep that thinks it’s appropriate to deny even basic rights to the unvaxxed: since you had your polio vaccine in the past and are protected (I know all of those aren’t exactly accurate, but seem to work as examples), do you care if others around you had it or not? “Well... I don’t want to talk about it”. The program goes that far, so far.