Thousands of anti-vaccine and anti-mask mandate protesters gathered on the Washington Mall on Sunday to express their opposition to the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine and mask policies.
Gathering at the base of the Washington Monument and then marching to the Lincoln Memorial, the protesters carried signs that read, “Make love, not mandates!!!” and “Coercion is not choice.”
COVID-19 has killed more than 860,000 people in the United States, and more than 5.5 million worldwide, during the two-year pandemic and has severely impacted the economy.
On Jan. 13, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate or test for big business, a policy the conservative justices deemed an inappropriate imposition on the lives and health of many Americans, while upholding a separate federal vaccine requirement law for health care facilities.
Many U.S. businesses have implemented mandatory facemask policies to protect their workers, as have several municipalities and cultural organizations.
Masks continue to polarize. Biden, a Democrat, recently urged people to wear masks and noted that about one-third of Americans report that they do not wear masks at all. Many Republican-leaning states have no mask requirements. Some states governed by Democrats, such as California, have reimposed indoor mask mandates.
[Con información de Reuters]
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