Mask mandates are making a return to some U.S. hospitals despite how unpalatable such demands have become, with locations in New York, California, and Massachusetts implementing the face-covering mandates.

At least one of the hospitals recognized that “a return to masking may be upsetting for some of our caregivers,” while another location wants employees and patients to know that it’s for the “the health and safety” of the community and encouraged individuals to get the next vaccine that comes out.

[Horse patooties. Masks did not curb the transmission of COVID, nor did it protect wearers from it in any meaningful long-term sense. There may be other pathogens in the air in health-care facilities that *might* support very short-term masking requirements, but the only people who should wear them at all are doctors and nurses in surgical environments and acutely symptomatic patients. Adam Baldwin and I discuss this in our latest Amiable Skeptics episode, which will go up tomorrow. — Ed]