Wisconsin is currently being run by Democrats, so you expect some level of illogical policy to emanate from their handling of the coronavirus. To be fair, they’ve done well compared to most of the other states in their region. Neighboring Michigan, for example, has been an horror show, with some of the highest death rates in the nation.

Regardless, Wisconsin has also decided to take mask wearing mandates to the level of parody. Now, employees of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource are being made to wear masks, not just in the office, but at home while on Zoom calls. Yes, people who are alone, in their own homes are being asked to wear masks.

Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources announced last week that its employees are required to wear masks at home during Zoom calls. https://t.co/AdoRicH0L1

— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) August 11, 2020

The reasons behind this are as dumb as you’d imagine. Apparently, the leadership at the DNR believe that the mere act of having people wear masks on Zoom calls will proselytize the masses into putting largely ineffective pieces of cloth over their own faces. To be clear, there’s no scientific reason for this mandate. Per their own admission, it’s pure virtue signaling.

Of course, the idea that anyone is going to decide for or against wearing a mask based on seeing someone from the Department of National Resource on an internet call seems fairly ludicrous, probably because it is. The infantilizing of people has become a bit of an obsession throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Want to go use your boat on an empty lake? Well, you can’t because it might send the wrong message. Want to go to church and listen to a sermon? Can’t do that either. Of course, you can go protest in massive groups for “social justice,” because politics apparently dictates the transmission rate of the coronavirus.

In the end though, none of this is based in science. As I’ve laid out recently (see The Case for Masks Has Taken Another Body Blow), we are seeing next to no correlation between heavily mask wearing countries and case loads, nor the prevention of second waves of the virus. Japan is the most masked up country in the world. They are experiencing a large spike right now. For the most part, mask wearing appears to have far more of a psychological impact, giving people a false sense of security, than physically stopping the virus. That shouldn’t be surprising. Professional PPE has existed for a long time. Professional PPE has never consisted of a bandana or a piece of cloth with rhinestones on it.

How we’ve reached place where a majority of the population are convinced those things will protect you is a testament to the power of hysteria and politicians looking to pass the buck. After all, if masks were admitted to be largely ineffective, they would lose a battering ram by which to pummel the public’s behavior with instead of themselves for their own failures.

No one is deciding mask usage based on zoom calls. All this boils down to is more buck passing and virtue signaling to make people feel like they are doing something when they aren’t. Perhaps Wisconsin’s citizens will recognize the absurdity coming from their state the last few years and act accordingly.