An Arizona Democratic congressman is ready to drop the masks and declare “victory” over COVID-19.
Sure, roughly twice as many Americans have died from the virus during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, relative to former President Donald Trump’s last one, despite the ubiquitous presence of the vaccines.
But Rep. Ruben Gallego on Friday was suddenly sounding like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican governors during an appearance on comedian Bill Maher’s show on HBO.
“I think this country is on a recovery. We have to admit things have not been great,” Gallego, considered a relative moderate among the increasingly left-leaning Democratic Party, said when Maher asked him about the “state of the union,” a reference to President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday.
“People really have felt this kind of overwhelming kind of grayness because of COVID. But we’re coming out of it. Unfortunately, I’m here on probably the last day where we still have to wear masks. But people are going to feel, I think, a little more upbeat.”
Gallego was referring to the announcement Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that widely relaxed masking rules. Prompted by Maher, Gallego also joked that he and the host, unlike Maher’s audience, didn’t have to wear masks because they are the “elites.”
“What we need to do now is we need to accept victory. We’ve beaten COVID. Time to take off the masks, time to go get back to life – let’s open up our businesses, and let’s everyone go back to having as normal a life as we can,” Gallego continued.
“It’s okay to succeed. It’s okay for us to say, we have moved on from COVID. I think there are some people that are still afraid of doing that. But we can’t continue living this life. This is not the way Americans were meant to live, and I think you can sense that right now.”
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