White House slammed for its 'incoherent' COVID messaging strategy

The White House is receiving backlash after an article was published on Thursday, outlining their COVID-19 strategy moving forward which stokes fears about future variants and cast doubt about the removal of indoor masking recommendations.

The article, published by Politico, is titled "So long, Omicron: White House eyes next phase of pandemic," and highlights how the administration hopes to move forward from the recent variant that quickly spread across the country.

"Emboldened by falling case counts, the Biden administration is plotting a new phase of the pandemic response aimed at containing the coronavirus and conditioning Americans to live with it," the article states.

They note that officials are anticipating a spring lull in cases that "could boost the nation’s mood and lift President Joe Biden’s approval ratings at a critical moment for his party."

"The White House is wary of declaring victory too early, only to get hit with another catastrophic variant, a half-dozen administration officials and others close to the Covid response said. Officials are also anxious that voters will be disappointed by the idea of living with an endemic virus under a president who once pledged to shut it down completely. And they realize that it will take vigilance — and billions more dollars from Congress — to prevent the nation from backsliding into crisis once again," they wrote.

They state that Biden’s COVID-19 response team is counting of expanded vaccination and therapeutics capacities to "accelerate the transition to the next pandemic phase."

"Yet even as it maps out the next stage, the White House has ruled out making a splashy show or major announcement regarding a hard pivot back to normalcy. There is fear among aides over repeating last year’s July Fourth “freedom from the virus” celebration — an event that turned politically disastrous weeks later when the Delta variant fueled a swift resurgence of the pandemic," they wrote.

"And though it faces pressure to back off some of its more notable — and onerous — public health policies, the administration is also unlikely to drop its indoor masking recommendations, which are seen as among the key tools for preventing new outbreaks," they added.

The article has received criticism on Twitter, with some saying the messaging is "incoherent," while others blasted the mask messaging.