MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said on her show Thursday that she needed to “rewire” her brain so that she didn’t see people not wearing a mask as a “threat.”
“I feel like I’m going to have to rewire myself so that when I see somebody out in the world who’s not wearing a mask, I don’t instantly think, ‘You are a threat,'” the MSNBC host said. “Or you are selfish or you are a COVID denier and you definitely haven’t been vaccinated.”
“I mean, we’re going to have to rewire the way that we look at each other,” Maddow added. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Republicans Call On Pelosi To Return House To Normal, End Mask Mandate After New CDC Guidelines Released)
The CDC updated their mask guidance Thursday to say that people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus can stop wearing a mask in most circumstances, including indoors. The Biden administration also lifted their mask requirements for fully vaccinated people. Maddow called the updated guidance a “big change.”
“Because the CDC guidance, which she just told me, we are sure, if you’re vaccinated you don’t need to wear a mask except in very specific circumstances,” she continued. “As we change that as a country we are going to look at each other differently and have to unwire our preconceptions about what a mask or lack of a mask means.”
Maddow also said that President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci both called on people “to be patient, be compassionate, give people respect for whatever they decide on this front.”
“We’re going to now have changing norms and we have to give each other space to have feelings about that as we go through what’s going to be a big change that’s going to create a lot of visceral reaction in a lot of us just in our day-to-day lives,” the MSNBC host added.