“Trust the science!” they scream as the Biden administration flip-flops for the umpteenth time on mask guidance despite objective data showing that cloth masks don’t work. That happened again today after the CDC decided that vaccinated people needed to wear masks again indoors. RedState reported on that ridiculous announcement earlier.

The next question was going to be whether anyone was going to obey. When I heard the news, my first thought was that the federal government can release whatever guidance it wants. There will be no more mask mandates, at least not in the sane parts of the country.

That appears to be correct. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida slammed the CDC’s anti-science approach, letting it be known that no municipality in Florida will be allowed to reinstate mask mandates.

🚨BREAKING: DeSantis REJECTS all new CDC recommendations calling them “not based in science.”He says Florida will ban all mask mandates.

— Tim Swain (@SwainForSenate) July 27, 2021

Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ press secretary, made these comments via Fox News.

“It isn’t based in science. There is no indication that areas with mask mandates have performed any better than areas without mask mandates. In fact, this policy could actually backfire,” DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw told Fox News.

“Mandating masks for vaccinated people erodes public trust and confidence in the effectiveness of the vaccines. To me it appears that the government wants to be perceived as ‘doing something’ during a seasonal infection surge, even if their policy does not necessarily make people safer.”

DeSantis also went after possible mandates involving school children. That’s prudent given the insanely anti-scientific nature of mask mandates for children, which some people say borders on child abuse.

As Pushaw notes, and as I’ve written on many times here at RedState, there is no real evidence that mask mandates make a statistical difference in lowering the spread of COVID. We’ve seen the UK, which has had a continuous mandate, have the same Delta spike as the United States. Meanwhile, countries like Sweden are averaging at or near zero deaths a day right now despite having almost no mitigation. In other words, the idea that some rehashed government guidance or mandate will affect things has been disproven more times over than I can count at this point.

Simply “doing something,” regardless of its actual effect, is not sound policy. While the CDC claims the science has changed regarding the vaccinated and mask-wearing, they’ve provided no evidence of that. The science on the ineffectiveness of masks remains the same as it was months ago as far as I can tell.

What’s really happening here is that the Biden administration doesn’t have an answer for what’s happening so as to shield themselves politically. Instead of accepting that reality and being honest with people that cases are largely irrelevant, they are making moves to cover their own backsides so they can point fingers elsewhere. In the end, though, there is no crisis here. There is no need for new mandates. More people are dying of pneumonia or Alzheimers a day in the United States than COVID right now. Outcomes are what matter, not raw case numbers.

Take Austin, TX as an example. They are at an average of around 170 cases a day, which some are calling a major spike. Yet, their 7-day average of deaths is zero. Again, outcomes matter, not cases. Mostly asymptomatic infections in younger individuals, the vaccinated, and those with natural immunity are not an excuse for government overreach and more actions that fly in the face of scientific evidence or lack thereof. Zero COVID is not a realistic goal.

DeSantis continues to lead on this issue as Florida remains a beacon of freedom and common sense among the hysteria.