If you wonder how much young people — and the world — have changed, here’s a portrait of progress.

At the University of Nevada-Reno Monday, students marched in defiance over masks.

They demand they be forced to wear them.

Last Thursday — amid a downward trend in COVID cases — Gov. Steve Sisolak announced an immediate end to the state’s mask mandate.

That same day, UNR President Brian Sandoval said the school would be ending its requirement under direction of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

But some students and staff are frowning behind their face frocks.

The reason: safety.

Per protesting graduate student instructor Emily Bird, via This Is Reno footage:

“We are out here to make our voices heard… … I feel, honestly, incredibly unsafe. Um, you know, we wear masks to protect ourselves and also to protect others. Um, there’s very good statistics that show that if you have an active COVID case and you are wearing a mask, you are protecting it spreading to other people.”

As for “very good statistics,” it would’ve been helpful if she’d shared them.

For a counterpoint, she may want to peruse MSN.com’s “Do Masks Actually Work? The Best Studies Suggest They Don’t.”

Additionally, she could consider content from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s February 5, 2020 email:

“The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through the material. … I do not recommend you wear a mask.”

Also available:

Washington Post: Mask Mandates Didn’t Make Much of a Difference Anyway. “Oops, looks like we vilified and dehumanized you and your kids for two years for nothing. Our bad.” pic.twitter.com/U1w5HVp9bm

— Michael P Senger (@MichaelPSenger) February 14, 2022

3. These 12 Graphs Show Mask Mandates Do Nothing To Stop COVIDhttps://t.co/weQCxaxiYU

— Kyle Becker 🚚🚜🐎 (@kylenabecker) February 8, 2021

More from Emily:

“There are all these people now on campus who are not wearing masks who could possibly be, um, spreading COVID. And that is, you know, additionally confounded [sic] by the fact that we took away our vaccination requirement. “

She is, of course, correct — people on campus may be sick. That was true prior to the pandemic. And it will be so for the rest of human existence.

Emily lamented she has “no idea of knowing how many of [her] students, how many of [her] peers, how many people walking past [her] are unvaccinated and spreading COVID at a much higher rate, putting [her] and…all of [her] community at risk.”

The same will be the case, whether masks are mandated or not.

As for transmission, RedState’s Bonchie previously covered a yearlong UK study:

While the study did show a small difference in infection rates among the vaccinated (13%), they found that viral load was essentially the same between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, causing similar spread rates in households. In other words, if you have the vaccine, you may be slightly less likely to contract the disease yourself, but you spread it to others at or near the same rate as everyone else.

Regardless, Emily pled:

“President Sandoval, please listen to us. Um, there is a huge population at the university who feels unsafe. Um, please help us.”

It seems to me the protest, in effect, wasn’t about mask mandates. Rather, it raged against the failure of the vaccine.

What else could be the message from vaccinated and boosted activists, begging to be forced to still mask?

Clearly, those wishing to mask can still do so. Why would they need others to follow along?

Perhaps the answer lies within America’s weakening. These days, we’re told words are violence and disagreement is hate. People aren’t primed to do as their peers do not. A generation has been convinced they must be affirmed by all. Otherwise, they’re unsafe. Conformity comes courtesy of a sword, because the populace is comprised of blushes.

As for our current hanging in the biological balance, before any vaccine had been distributed, coronavirus survival rates were posted by the CDC:

• 0-19 years: 99.99997
• 20-49 years: 99.9998
• 50-69 years: 99.995
• 70+ years: 99.946

If students are so jarred by germs that they’re protesting to permanently shroud their pie holes, they might consider embracing a much more robust deterrent to death: Each should strap on a helmet whenever they’re in a car. It could have a far greater impact on their health.

Maybe that trend can be led by the Nevada Faculty Alliance’s Kent Ervin, who explained he’s “flabbergasted” that the state’s higher education system isn’t following the “public health directives, the experts, and the CDC guidelines.” Instead, they’re being guided by “political considerations.”

Kent will be “wearing [his] mask as long as there’s community spread.”

If I understand correctly, that means he’ll be masking for the rest of his life.

He also asserted the issue “particularly impacts students of color and LGBTQ students.” Somehow, straight white people are escaping its jaws.

White man Kent wants the school to “follow the science.” That sounds like a sensible idea.

Dr. Fauci, as you may know, has deemed himself the science.

Fortunately, Kent can follow the science, even if none of his protesting peers join in.

However, it’ll take some adjustment on his part:

US airports & airlines *preposterously* all demand that 2 year old children put a mask on, in the name of Fauci’s ‘government science’ federal mandate, yet here is the man himself – indoors – while he thinks the cameras are turned off #Resist ✊🏽pic.twitter.com/zhR1hELmJg

— Maajid أبو عمّار (@MaajidNawaz) August 14, 2021

Nope, real person idiot…live in Tennessee. Rude Like Fauci? No cameras …mask off, not 6 feet apart pic.twitter.com/QEL3gI7xr4

— David McVey (@mac8023) July 31, 2020

-ALEX

See more content from me:

Rectal Respiration: Adam Carolla Floats a Theory That May Explain Eric Garcetti’s Unmasking

Oregon’s Education Dept. Takes a Stand Against Standards — Racism, to the Layperson

Dirty Work: Universities Try to Sell Students on the ‘Positives’ of Sex

Find all my RedState work here.

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