‘Experts’ Running The COVID Playbook Again As Mask Mandates Return

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Among the innumerable negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, from school closures, lockdowns, masks and every other absurd policy, the most dangerous might have been normalization.

It’s one thing to try policies that were always predestined to fail. It’s another to refuse to admit those policies failed, and act as though they justify permanent restrictions. And unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happened within the scientific community.

It wasn’t exactly a secret, pre-COVID, that the scientific community was consumed by arrogance, hubris, and massive ego. But the pandemic revealed just how dangerous those traits are, in conjunction with credentialism and a lack of accountability. Sure enough, even in 2025, that mentality is set to harm generations to come.

The first example is Leana Wen, a CNN contributor and former head of Planned Parenthood. Wen became known during COVID for her extremism and authoritarian impulses, which included demanding that unvaccinated people be locked inside their homes during the pandemic. 

Sure enough, because of the great Bird Flu panic of late 2024-early 2025, the media trotted her back out to demand more of the same. And she gave a terrifying indication of just how committed The Science™ is to more of the same.

Leana Wen Demonstrates Lack Of Accountability With COVID ‘Experts’

Wen appeared on “Face The Nation” to give her opinions on bird flu and how we should be handling it. They were bad opinions. 

Immediately, she demanded more testing to find more cases.

“I feel like we should have learned our lesson from COVID, that just because we aren’t testing doesn’t mean the virus isn’t there,” Wen said. “We should be having rapid tests, home tests, available to all farm workers, to their families, for the clinicians taking care of them, so that we aren’t waiting for public labs and CDC labs to tell us what’s bird flu or not.”

Just run that COVID playbook right back. But it got far, far worse.

Wen said that bird flu has already “acquired mutations” that make it possible to have both bird flu and the regular flu at the same time. Horrifying.

“It’s someone who is severely ill. But not only that, researchers have isolated the virus in this individual who is sick in Louisiana, and they found that this particular strain of the virus appears to have acquired mutations that make it more likely to bind to airway receptors,” Wen added. She then said that “adding that this mutation allows a person to have bird flu and seasonal flu at the same time.”

Sure enough, Wen also started in on pushing bird flu vaccines, saying that we shouldn’t wait to have evidence that the vaccines are even effective.

“I don’t want to wait for the Trump administration to potentially hold up the vaccines saying that they want more evidence,” Wen said. “Look, evidence is always good and facts are always good. New research is always good. But you also have to weigh that against a potential catastrophe, as we could be having for bird flu, the way that we had for COVID.”

This disastrous paragraph exemplifies the attitude health experts had during the development and release of COVID vaccines too. It didn’t matter that they had no evidence suggesting that the vaccines would create long-lasting protection against infection or transmission, they made those suggestions anyway. They rushed vaccine approval on purpose because they were concerned about an increase in cases, with several on a vaccine committee resigning in protest due to the unjustified rush. They ignored concerns over side effects, downplaying or ignoring myocarditis as a known risk in order to ensure maximum uptake.

Now she’s suggesting we do it again with bird flu. What could possibly go wrong?

Ironically, Wen praised Marty Makary, President-Elect Donald Trump’s nominee for FDA Commissioner, as being someone who actually examines evidence.

Wen said Makary is an “Independent thinker who really listens to science and is willing to change his mind when there is new evidence that emerges.”

That’s exactly who Wen isn’t. She isn’t willing to change her mind when new evidence proves her wrong. She just flat out ignores it. Which is why she’s back out in the media advocating for the same policies and mistakes that already didn’t work. And she’s not the only one.

Limited Mask Mandates Come Back In Several States

On Friday, Aurora Health Care System in Wisconsin announced that they would be returning to a mask mandate at all of their hospitals this coming week. Not because of COVID, even, but because of an increase in Norovirus cases. Have masks been studied for their efficacy against Norovirus? Of course not. Do masks even work against any respiratory viruses? Of course not. 

The largest health provider in New Jersey, RWJBarnabas Health, also now requires masks. Their guidance says that all visitors are required to “wear an appropriate face mask” and “maintain physical distance.” 

“We will offer you a new mask for source control or may ask you to replace your own mask with a hospital-supplied mask,” they say.

It’s never going to end. Literally. Dr. Andy Anderson, executive vice president and chief medical and quality officer for RWJBarnabas Health, told the Asbury Park Press that they expect this to happen every year, and they have no interest in acknowledging that masks don’t work.

“This happens every year … where there’s RSV, flu, COVID,” Anderson said. “It’s just a matter of time and we’re trying to get ahead of it so we can protect people and prevent the spread early on rather than waiting until we’re in the thick of it when everyone’s sick.”

Hospitals in Illinois, Indiana and of course, California, have also returned to mask mandates. 

And this is the playbook moving forward. Leana Wen and those like her will return to the media to advocate for more testing to find evidence of new cases, yet ironically demand less evidence for new vaccines. Hospital systems run by incompetent, anti-science administrators will force the public to comply with unjustified mask mandates forever. All while the media shrugs and ignores it.

There’s no end in sight to COVID extremism. In fact, they’re just redistributing it and repackaging it to ensure it stays around forever.