IN DENIAL: Psaki: ‘Public Polling Does Not Show That There is a Universal View of People Getting Rid of Masks’

(CNSNews.com) – White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that despite viral video showing passengers on planes eager to take off their masks once it was announced that the mask mandate on planes would not be enforced, polling does not show that people are eager to get rid of masks while on public transportation.

“The president said yesterday that people should decide for themselves whether to wear masks on airplanes. I’m wondering whether his comment was intended to signal a shift in thinking in the administration away from mask mandates toward more personal responsibility,” Associated Press White House reporter Darlene Superville asked.

PSAKI: The president was answering the question quite literally, which means right now as you know, we’re not implementing the mask mandate because of the court order, which we disagree with, while he is still abiding by CDC guidance, and we recommend Americans do that across the country.

They’re still recommending people wear masks on airplanes, on Air Force One, which of course is a federal, not a private plane. We all wear masks on the plane when we traveled to New Hampshire yesterday, but we are not– people are not legally bound to wear masks, so it is a point in time where it is up to people, it is their choice in that regard.

“The DOJ said yesterday that they would decide essentially whether or not to appeal that ruling based on what the CDC says they need or don’t need. Is the White House or the cabinet involved in any way in that decision-making process?” another reporter asked.

PSAKI: We’re entirely able to and legally able to be a part of the discussion, but right now we of course are deferring to the CDC on what they believe is needed at this moment. They’ve already— they obviously put in place this two-week extension, because they felt they needed that to take a look at the data, given that we’ve seen a rise in cases.

So we certainly anticipate to hear more from them soon on their ask for being able to have that time, which we think is entirely warranted, and the Department of Justice as you noted, has indicated that they would appeal, not just because they think it’s entirely reasonable of course to have this additional time to look at it, but because they think that the current – for current and future public health crises, we want to preserve that authority for the CDC to have in the future.

REPORTER: And then just when you said a moment ago that it literally is a personal choice as to whether people should decide whether to put a mask on or not on planes, does that messaging still reflect a shift for you all and maybe to some degree a capitulation to just the mood of the public to be over this pandemic or people who have politicized the wearing of masks in the first place?

PSAKI: First, I would say we continue to recommend everyone wear masks on planes. What the president was speaking to is of course because we are not currently implementing the mask mandate, it’s not a requirement, so people can choose as we recommended, but to be clear, we are recommending everyone wear masks on planes. That is what the CDC is recommending.

That is the public health guidance we are following. I would note I know this is often said and maybe some of it is because there was the video of people on planes– on the– on one plane taking off their masks.

Public polling does not actually show that there is a universal view of people getting rid of masks. That’s not actually what public polling shows. Now it doesn’t matter to us, because we are making decisions on public health and data and what the CDC is recommending, but that is not the universal view of the public.