This video is getting a good bit of attention on social media, and deservedly so. In it, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addresses her latest plan to remove Donald Trump, this time by invoking the 25th Amendment. As Pelosi states in the video, which was shot yesterday, she’ll be revealing her strategy today, Friday, so we won’t know for another hour or so whether her plan is to attempt to unseat the president on the grounds of his having had a COVID infection or something else. Whatever the explanation turns out to be, it ought to be fun to watch.
But the video provides viewing pleasure for another reason: It provides a clinic in the wearing of face masks. Pelosi, who is something of an authority on science — “Let me just say three words about the wildfires and the hurricanes and about the coronavirus,” she chided the Trump administration in August, “science, science, and science” — demonstrates a number of behaviors the scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) frown on.
Rule 1: A mask should fit snugly against the sides of your face. Pelosi’s designer mask is quote loose. There are gaps between the mask and her cheeks on either side of her nose. The mask, moreover, should cover most of her nose and pinched around the nose to provide a tighter seal.
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Rule 2: Never touch the mask once it is on. At 0:34 in the video, Pelosi grabs the outside of the mask and tugs it downward.
Rule 3: Never touch your eyes, nose, or mouth after removing the mask. Pelosi holds a glass of water up to her mouth with her other hand. It appears at one point that she does touch her mouth, but even if she doesn’t, one suspects the DCD would disapprove of this behavior.
Rule 4: Wash your hands immediately after removing your mask. Pelosi doesn’t. Instead she returns the mask to her face in a careless fashion that causes one side of the mask to bulge away from her face.
This is not Pelosi’s first rodeo. In April, standing at the same podium with her “mask” (a silk scarf) around her neck, she reached a finger up to her evidently-running nose, and then returned her hand to the podium, creating a health risk for whoever spoke after her.
Nor is Pelosi alone in transgressing. Joe Biden, the king of face masks, is forever adjusting his mask by touching the contaminated exterior.
