You are totally correct and this is a typical mainstream media m.o.-- the whoops, my bad, now let's all make up and forget this ever happened.

However, they aren't really walking anything back at all because the second another pandemic is declared, and the WHO, Bill Gates, etc...have already said another pandemic is on the horizon (2024 election year?), ALL of the mandates will come back with a vengeance including the masks. There will be a new and improved study that debunks the current NY Times article declaring that masks actually do work for *this* virus when worn properly, or double/triple masked, or wearing N95's only, or if worn with goggles and a butt plug, whatever it takes to push the fear so you'll take the next vaccine.

I believe that articles like this are also designed to make you think we are all finally in the clear and that mandates are a thing of the past never to return. It's a sleight of hand to get you to take you eye off the ball which is Biden attempting to hand over U.S. sovereignty to the World Health Org who you can bet will bring those masks back. They want you to relax and feel like things are finally getting back to normal when the fact is the powers that be will clamp down 100x harder the next go around.