The Last Time Ever I Saw Your Face . . .

. . . it was in April 2020. 

But get ready to rejoice, my friends!  Face coverings (FCs) appear to be on the way out, at least for a good long time before we have to deal with COVID again, in its current strain or in a future one.

With the seven-day average of new COVID cases having dropped to below 70,000 for the first time since October, and with hospitalizations down significantly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says we don't have to wear FCs in areas where hospitalization rates are low or medium - about 70 percent of counties, districts (Alaska) and parishes (Louisiana) in the United States.  Most of the 30 percent of the counties, districts and parishes with high hospitalization rates are in - you guessed it - the South and West.

Where  I live, a nearby town that happens to be one of these suburbs reinventing itself as a destination town - it has an art museum - is repealing its FC mandate ahead of schedule.  The art museum is resuming its free admission on the first Thursday night of the month this week for the first time in two years.  I'm probably going to hold off, though, and not go to a free first Thursday night until April or May just to be on the safe side.

Oh, yeah, don't expect the FCs to come off at President Biden's State Of the Union address tonight, even though the District of Columbia has a low hospitalization rate, because, as I understand it, FCs are still required on federal property.  And, the last time I checked, the U.S .Capitol is federal property (at least until the next insurrection).  On this, Biden ain't budging, thanks largely to his COVID paranoia after FC restrictions were lifted in June 2021, and FCs were being taken off just as the delta corona was taking off.  Thus, FCs and COVID tests will be required for those who attend the speech in person. 

And so, let history record that the only two times that two women - Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - were sitting behind the President in a joint session of Congress, they were wearing face coverings both times. The pandemic will likely be over completely in 2023, but Kevin McCarthy will likely be sitting in Nancy Pelosi's place. 

At least both people behind President Biden will still both be Californians.

However, it will be appropriate if all of Congress is masked up like armed bandits tonight, if only to remind us what Mark Twain once said about Congress being America's only criminal class.