Vaccinated Or Not Here’s Where You’ll Have To Mask Up On Fort Bliss

The COVID-19 numbers in El Paso continue to rise and now we know that there are at least 3 cases of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus confirmed by El Paso health officials. The rise in COVID-19 infections is what prompted officials at Fort Bliss to issue a mandate that you will now have to mask up whenever you go on base. Last week they issued a memo that read in part:

"All service members, federal employees, onsite contractor employees, and visitors – regardless of vaccination status – must wear appropriate face coverings inside all public and work facilities as well as government vehicles on Fort Bliss."

I think this is a good move on Fort Bliss' part. We are at the stage in the pandemic where we know that masks work and if you don't want to get a vaccine that's fine, it's really not but we'll leave that for another day, but the least we can do is make sure that everyone has a barrier between them to keep droplets that are potentially loaded with virus kept behind a mask. I know that some people are angry because they also don't want to wear a mask but you put a seatbelt on when you drive, right? This is no different. You are erring on the side of safety.

Moving forward it's pretty likely that more and more entities will take this step. We have to figure out a way to stop the coronavirus from mutating and getting more and more transmissible. If we have to mandate masks like Fort Bliss did then so be it. Good move, Fort Bliss. You keep us safe on the battlefield and by mandating masks. We thank you for your service.