WASHINGTON - March 11, 2021 - President Biden's speech tonight is expected to outline what he had done, and plans to do, regarding the COVID pandemic, but he apparently will not say the one thing which would save thousands of lives, argues public interest law professor John Banzhaf whose efforts have saved lives threatened by COVID.
At a time when the CDC Director has just warned that March and April will be "critical" in stopping another COVID-19 surge, and a more states are dropping mask mandates, President Biden has broken his promise to "do everything possible" from "an executive standpoint" to "make it required that people had to wear masks in public."
By announcing a simple directive tonight in his speech,Biden could slash the number of states without mask mandates where millions of people are being put at unnecessary risk of death, disability, hospitalization, and long-term effects of COVID-19, says Banzhaf, who helped improve the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
At this crucial time - when just a few words in his speech tonight would save thousands of lives - he seems to have forgotten that he had promised to "do everything possible" from "an executive standpoint" to "make it required that people had to wear masks in public." He clearly has not done all he can, says Professor Banzhaf.
More specifically, Biden has ignored a proposal being considered by his own White House COVID-19 Response Team to make a simple announcement which could help save thousands of lives and millions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs, says Banzhaf, who explains the simple life-saving idea this way.
Although a president seemingly lacks the legal authority to directly require masks to be worn within individual states, he can by himself simply announce and provide that applications for federal health-related grants will only be accepted from entities - including schools, hospitals, local governmental bodies, universities, charitable organizations, and many others - in states which have a mask mandate in effect on a stated date (e.g., March 20, 2021).
Such an announcement by the President would put enormous pressure on state governors and state legislators to put mask mandates in place now at a time when they are most necessary, and will do the most to slash deaths and unnecessary health care expenses. Indeed, even announcing that such a directive is being considered would, by itself, provide very strong encouragement.
Since government grants and the conditions under which they are to be awarded are largely discretionary, such a directive from the President would be perfectly legal - unlike an executive order for a national mask mandate which would be subject to legal challenge.
http://banzhaf.net/ jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com @profbanzhaf
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