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service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. it was time to accept covid, as they framed it, and move on from it, as far as they phrased the question. 70% of americans in the pole agreed that it was "time to move on" from it, with 88% of republicans sharing the seven -- sentiment, 71 percent of independents, 41% of them a kratz sharing the sentiment done in late january as the data is available at monmouth university and in light of that, even the last couple of days, several democratic governors across the united states reconsidering mask mandates because of data coming out around covid and other factors, "the wall street journal," highlighting that fact, saying that officials in

rhode island, new york, and other places wednesday said that vaccinations and other measures would end measures and tempted to stop the spread of covid would end by march again, in the first hour, host: your host: thoughts on covid and if it is time to move on from it. give us a call you say yes at (202) 748-8000. if you say no, (202) 748-8001. perhaps you are not sure, (202) 748-8002. the story mentioned that list of governors across the united states making that decision. the new york governor yesterday

talked about changes to covid mask policies for businesses, not for school. here is democrat kathy hogle yesterday. [video clip] >> i've been talking to everybody. local diners, businesses, dr. felty -- dr. fauci, health care experts, consulting with other national leaders in neighboring states. talked to labor leaders, elected officials, health care leaders, hospital ceos, business leaders. talked to many business leaders over the last few days. educators, school superintendents, parents, leaders of the teachers union. everyone i could think of has received a phone call from me to ask them about how they feel about where we are, where we are going and what we should be doing next. all of that has given me not just data, but the on the ground view from the people most affected and that is how i make my best decisions. so, we had a mask or vax

requirement for businesses. it was an emergency temporary measure put in place nearly two months ago and at this time we say that it is the right decision to lift the mandate for indoor businesses. let counties, cities, and businesses make their own decisions on what they want to do with respect to max -- masks or the vaccination requirement. given declining cases and hospitalizations, that is why we feel it's possible to lift this in effect tomorrow and i want to thank all the businesses and the county leaders and the health department in places as far away as syria county who did the right thing to help us get through this. i believe it has made a huge difference and it has given patrons of businesses the comfort to know that they are safe when they went in these stores during our most vulnerable time when we saw those numbers literally off the charts and now the numbers are

coming down and it is time to adapt. host: do you think it is time to move on from covid? mitchell from new jersey starts us off on the line for those who are not sure. mitchell, go ahead. caller: i am not, i'm not against getting rid of the mitigation measures that we have. in place. and we will have to move in that direction i think and certainly we should go there soon. however, i do think that there are some measures that are still a little bit worrisome. one of them would be the hospitalizations. i was looking at a "new york times" chart of hospitalizations recently and icu admissions. i'm in the suburbs of new york city. two of the hospitals, i was pretty surprised, a couple of them were over 100%, hospitals

by me were still in the high 80's. i think we are probably a few weeks away from getting that number down, which i would feel a little bit more comfortable with. the other thing is the vaccinations for the children five and under, they are talking about rolling it out perhaps in march, which is another good sign. i think some of the antivirals should be coming out in force in a few more weeks. i would say i agree with what they are doing in concept but i think we are probably a few weeks to scene -- too soon on some of these measures. host: similar sentiment from our facebook page by holly robinson. she said to ask the nurses, doctors, and hospital staff. i had a three day stay at a hospital to have a cancerous kidney removed. patients did not get care as quickly as they needed because the nurses and the aides were

overwhelmed. you can send us a text or reach out to us on twitter as well on this idea of moving on from covid. south carolina, lee, hello. caller: i believe we can move on. if people haven't learned yet, they will never learn. what we are doing is pacifying ignorance, selfishness. people think of themselves. the talk about the stop the steal rally, things like this, to obfuscate an excuse their behavior. i just think we are wasting time and we have other priorities that are more pressing. such as documents being flushed,

destroyed, etc. host: ok, we will hear from time -- from tom on the no line in florida. caller: in other countries where they removed the mandates, more deaths came. we have right wing and tiebacks, anti-science and others, it's incredible. we had more deaths than the 1918 pandemic. 675,000 this year in the united states? i mean, this is incredible. like the last caller said, the ignorant and the stupid, they need to look in the mirror and realize they are the ones who what deny science.

host: let me ask you, what would you have to see in order to "move on" from covid, to become tribble with that? caller: listen to the experts. listen to us. for gods sake. if trump did what biden did and took seriously the pandemic, he would probably be president right now. host: you are saying listen to experts as far as the cdc and those people? caller: if trump took seriously the pandemic, he would be president right now. now he's gone. he's done. he's never going to be president. host: ok. that was tom in florida. when it comes to actual numbers of covid cases, they are plunging across america and the omicron death toll is headed

down as well and that nationwide the u.s. is averaging 240 thousand new cases per day, 60 1% drop over the last two weeks. maryland and washington, d.c. have the lowest case counts in the country -- host: we showed you that map at the be getting of the show, covid deaths, 900,000 plus, that number. factor that into your calculus as far as it being time to move on from covid in the life we live due to it. craig, hello. caller: i think the red states

have had it correct for the last year and the blue states are just trying to catch up now. these studies, facts, and figures show that lockdowns haven't made any less severe, the covid-19 problem. the democrats are chasing the parade right now. host: from mike. mike, in ohio on the yes line. hello. caller: good morning, pedro. let's talk ignorance. ignorance is what has been going on for two years. our experts are incompetent. let's find out where this originated. the faucher she alliance, they were being fed money to do these experiments in china. the reason we can't get anything done is because we have

individuals in the building behind you, pedro. pants in your pockets -- hands in their pockets getting kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies. how much of the shots costing us. host: dr. fauci has been questioned many times on these fronts and had answers for those things. if you want to go to our website, c-span.org, you can see the hearings with dr. fauci answering questions and accusations about covid. you can go to the website at c-span.org. carlin is in reno, nevada on the no line. good morning. this idea of moving on from covid, what do you think? caller: good morning. i think it's terrible. i'm 78, my husband is 84.

people come in, living in reno, the flights come in all the time. we are just, you know, dooming people from everywhere. people dying, even though it's gone down a little bit as far as how many people only 63% of the people vaccinated. host: what's the change in your mind as far as things cited, what has to change? caller: for one thing, if the people would have gotten vaccinated, like they should

have all along, we could have been there by now. but they didn't, you know. you got these people that don't believe in it, i don't know what their ideas are. you see them on fox and all that. anyway, if everybody would have gotten vaccinated, we could have been there. as it is now we will have to wait until it kind of wears down and until it does, you know, here with the casinos and everything, close by other people, they have to wear the masks and keep their hands washed. host: ok, ok. that's carla in person -- carla in nevada giving us her ideas. this from a republican leader, " science hasn't changed, politics has, democrats have been the party of shutdowns and mask mandates even when the ruinous

impact was clear." our question, sean patrick maloney adding that democrats plan to fight covid and the plan is working, science is our guide and we are ready to start getting back to normal. legislators on their twitter feeds giving input. you can do the same on the phones, post on our facebook page, twitter feed, or text us. newport news, virginia on the not sure line. good morning, carlton. caller: i'm not sure, pedro. because the fact that the death toll is still so high. the cdc is being rushed by these outside groups that can't get a handle on whether it is safe or not. we are just going to play it safe, my mate and i. we both had our shots.

it pays to play it safe until the death rates come down and free up some of the hospital spacing. we are going to follow cdc guidance and play it safe. host: what do you think of this rash of states changing policies around masks in light of the cdc guidance? caller: i think it's something that i hope doesn't come back to bite them on the but. they think everything is over, they wanted to be over, but covid is not finished with us and i would hate for them to have to find out the hard way. host: one of the people asked about the decisions highlighted in the paper today, dr. rochelle lewinsky talking about what's going on in the states, what's currently being offered for mask guidance when it comes to the cdc. here's a portion of that from yesterday. [video clip]

>> the last recommendation was that there should be indoor masking in public settings where transmission is substantial or high, according to cdc data that appears to still be the entire country, the case for the entire country, where community transmission is high. is that still the recommendation and furthermore, you also recommended that there be universal masking in schools. is that a recommendation that you stand by as states moved to drop or lift mask mandates for teachers and students in schools? >> yeah, thank you. we certainly understand the need and desire to be flexible and we want to ensure public health guidance that we are providing meets the moment we are in. as was discussed and noted, cases and hospitalizations are falling and this is encouraging and it leads us of to have a look at all the guidance, the latest data, the science and what we know about the virus.

as jeff mentioned we look to hospitalizations as a barometer of how they are doing locally. so that those decisions can be made at the local level in we have course at the cdc will keep the public informed on our guidance and clearly communicate our recommendations to the public if and when they are updated. host: there was more to that white house covid briefing yesterday, it's available on our website and if you download the c-span now app, you can view it there, too. ty, los angeles, on the no line, go ahead. caller: no, i really don't think we are ready to move on from this, these efforts to end covid. i'm a teacher and, you know, i am, i am just, i can't believe that we really are handling it this way. we have someone out sick, we have staff out sick all the time

. we are short substitutes in our district. students are out all the time. just maybe a week ago or so i had a student that had to go out and the children that were near him had to be quarantined and i'm just saying that you guys are really wrong when you think we are surviving and i really don't appreciate that you guys have forced us teachers to be at risk under the guise that it's for the children. i mean ultimately people aren't even going back to work and really, it's disgusting that people have taken on this posture of defeat by saying -- whatever, everyone's just going to get it. but they are so ready to fight people who want to fight the virus. can we stop fighting each other

and fight the virus? it's ridiculous and i'm tired of this. host: i assume you are teaching face-to-face. what kind of rules do you have to follow when you are teaching now? caller: well, we have safety cautions that we have had since school started. plexiglass shields. i make sure that my students get hand sanitizer before they eat. at the beginning of the year i use to do that before they enter the class. host: i think the call dropped, but that was a caller from california giving her perspective as far as teaching is concerned. teachers are welcome to give input. other people as well, in their walks of life, how they are dealing with covid in this idea that it is time to move on from covid. shirley says yes, it is. surely, hello.

caller: good morning. [inaudible] this has costs a lot of jobs, you can't get a job if you don't get the shot. partially i'm afraid of the shot because i don't know what's in it. credibility for the cdc, found she lost that when he was caught in several lies. teachers need to be in the classroom teaching students. it's causing a lot of stress for my grandson and my granddaughter in my small parish. i have seen teachers without their masks. if they can go out without a mask, they can teach in the classroom without the mask. personally, i feel everyone needs to get back to normal and

as far as like i said, the faucher that ability, it's gone with the wind. host: ok. that was surely in louisiana. on the twitter feed, saying let the independent medical professionals be the voices that inform the nation. jd reading from the twitter feed saying it's endemic, the reason the plague occurred in the first case is the research and michael saying that everyone will be -- will be exposed to covid, and how each one's body reacts remains unknown, it has been and make for some time. thoughts from twitter viewers there, you can add yours to the mix there at c-span wj or our facebook page. frank, maryland on the yes line saying it's time to move on. frank, hello. caller: i just want to say yes,

it's time to move on and has been for about a year now. the democrats are just doing this politically. they have known for the longest time that we didn't know these masks. three quarters of the masks don't even work that they got out there. look, the bottom line is that you have made moderna, pfizer, and all these other companies so filthy rich, they will never have to make any more medicine. they are being played and they know it, the democrats. that's all i have to say. host: joe, ann arbor, on the no line. you are next up. caller: i hope i'm the right person. host: if you are joel from ann arbor, michigan, go ahead. caller: correct. we may want to move on from the virus but the virus is not moving on from us. people are continuing to die. particularly children.

adults, even boosted adults run the risk of a moderate disease perhaps followed by long-term covid symptoms. host: so, what has to change, then? caller: i think that we have to have some reason, more reason, apparently, to wear masks. to be careful about distancing, washing, and all the things the cdc has suggested. host: when you say more reason, can you elaborate? considering we have been told a lot that on these ideas of masking and washing, we have to go further than that? caller: i think that we can change the opinion of what is being published by certain elements of the press.

and that will be a matter of, well, action to the court. host: "the new york times," highlighting efforts from the state and on the political front. "if the drop in cases and hospitalizations continue as many experts and set -- expect, biden himself will have to make a tough decision, should he declare the end it to the national emergency that his predecessor called for in 2020

host: again, from "the new york times" this morning. darrell, time to move on, he says yes. darrell, hello. caller: yes, we need to get rid of the mask mandates. i live in california. doctors will in ski and found she need to go. they have been inaccurate for over a year about the masks. i'm a retired medical professional and i assure you that masks, that we have been walking around in the street, in the car by yourself, has gone to the point of absurdity. it's ridiculous. they want people to be afraid. there is going to be another variant mutating from the vaccine.

it's just going to keep going on and on and as long as people can be afraid -- host: who is that they that you say want to be afraid? who is they? caller: biden and the cdc cannot even get their story together, obviously. it's hurting the kids. i have a grandson that has to wear a mask. he can't even see faces. you know? it's really hurting the kids. the teachers that are whining that they are afraid and everybody is sick? you know, it's gone around. omicron has gone around. teachers are vaccinated. kids are screened to death. they are still putting in the fear from weingarten. it's ridiculous. host: ok, that was darrell in

california. now joseph, hello. caller: how are you today? host: fine, thank you. how about yourself? caller: good. i don't know why they are making this politically huge, democrats, republicans, or anybody else. we seem to be caught in this football political thing. it doesn't make sense. we are all in this together. we are all american. let's be done with the democrat republican thing. let's do it as the american people. host: you say it's not time to move on yet. why is that? caller: because it's not done with us yet? it's going to be here for a while. this is not a moneymaking thing for drug companies.

that's not the reason covid came here. we have it in we have to deal with it. host: as you say that, you said you had concerns about another variant. are you saying that as long as those concerns are there we should take the precautions and steps we are taking now? host: if we don't cap -- caller: if we don't, we will be setting ourselves up for going back to the way it was. host: ok. monmouth university is taking a look here, we saw a bit of it earlier about moving on from covid, americans responding to that, we are asking you the same type of question. if you say that is the case, yes it is, call (202) 748-8000. if you say no it's not, (202) 748-8001.

if you are not sure, call (202) 748-8002. talking about those political breakdowns, monmouth added that only one third of the country felt that the country would get the outbreak under control and return to normal by the end of the year and more than one and 4, 20 8%, believe a return to normalcy will never happen, up from 22% who felt this way in september and 6% who were similarly pessimistic a year ago. the monmouth university poll, by the way, monmouth.edu if you want to check out those findings for yourself. let's hear from stephen san jose . says it's time to move on. hello, steve. caller: as long as we hover

consistently around 2000, 2500 deaths per day, my first thought is for teachers. teachers ought to take into consideration the virus when they go into the career. they should get their education to become a teacher by the age of 25, that way they can retire at 30 years at the age of 55 and if teachers have comorbidities, diabetes, overweight, they should give strong consideration to getting out of the business. we need to get our children back in school. the second thought is i just hope, i pray to god that this was not deliberately unleashed

on the world because people, some folks, some folks thought that the world would be better off to be culled of the people over 65 because there are thoughts among environmentalists especially that we are overpopulated. host: where did you get that idea? caller: the idea comes from the beginning. this was deliberately, deliberately foy stirred on the world population and i just pray to god we don't find this to be true because this would be an people, evilness. host: montgomery, alabama, on the no line. caller: i'm in no because i got

pneumonia and i'm still getting over it, the strain that i have. it was like everything they had seen in covid but because i had been boosted, they couldn't say definitely that it was covid. but all these people calling in here saying the democrats, the democrats, the democrats? this all started under a republican. this isn't a democrat or republican thing. they have made it that way. they blaming faucher and everybody else but found she is just like any other person, could make a mistake. they are holding him to one or two mistakes and what about all the things he's gotten right? the omicron variant is running rampant in alabama. there is no way that we should be, i mean i'm not a yes or no

on the mandate, but people should be taking precautions. the doctor that called in and said mask this mask that, why do they wear the masks in the hospital? to protect them from things, from other people that come in who are sick and what they have. the same thing should apply for us going out or just being in offices shut up with other people. my brother just got covid. he was outside, forgot his mask, this man was standing behind him breathing on him and within a day he was sick. that's the mindset these people have and it is just wrong. host: let's hear from eric in louisiana. caller: hello, eric broussard. good morning. this morning i watched c-span and turned it on and i saw time

to move on from covid-19, which is true. and i heard president biden talking about mask mandates ending. i believe most people need to see the person that's talking to them because most people are hard of hearing and they are what you call, they don't understand you with these stupid masks on, you know? host: why do you think it's time to move on from covid? caller: it's been two or three years since donald john trump was in the white house and biden said it's not going to last forever, it's going to go away. well, it hasn't gone away yet. most of the most of the kids

that go to school have to be on computers, not in class. in my time, everyone it -- was in class in school. host: many students are in class now. caller: i understand that but most of these time these kids are online schooling. it's time for it to go away. host: ok. winston, durham, north carolina. winston, do me a favor, before you go on, before you go on, turned on your tv, please. caller: gotcha. [feedback] caller: ok. host: if you are there, go ahead. caller: yes. i like what the guy said earlier. it's not, covid is not going to move on from us, we are ready to

move on from the covid. it's not a democrat republican thing. it's a people thing. the covid is reaching out to get anyone it can get. what i would do is call your local hospital and find out what the rate of covid is. if it's high, wear your mask. so, i have to say no and that aspect. if it's low, i say it's time to move on. so, we have to look at it in two different ways. that's my thoughts on it. host: ok. winston, north carolina. thanks for the call, thanks for turning on your television. viewers waiting online to talk to us, please do us a favor and do that. there is a bit of a delay and it can slow the conversation. (202) 748-8000 if you say yes it's time to move on from covid. (202) 748-8001, just like

winston, if you say it's time to move on. (202) 748-8002 if you are not sure. in the metro, they were discussing a recent move by the virginia senate on wednesday passing a bill allowing parents to ignore schoolboard mandates on children wearing masks in school, several democrats joining republicans, they passed sb 39 allowing parents to elect for their child to not wear a mask on school property. it will go to the house and is expected to pass and if it does, glenn youngkin says that they will probably be moving against several court cases -- host: here is governor youngkin

on the sean hannity show yesterday. [video clip] >> the issue of children's schools was a huge issue in your campaign. you kept your promise and then school districts decided not to listen to you and now apparently got democrats in the legislature going along with you? >> this is a defining moment for parents and kids in virginia. we have a bipartisan movement to get parents back in charge of the lives of their kids. remember, parents matter. voters said that loudly in november. suddenly now where virginia had been leading, we are seeing the rest of the country come around. it's time to get back to normal. time to empower parents. i'm so excited that virginia is leading in a bipartisan way to give parents the power to choose whether their child wears a mask or not in school.

host: dennis, dennis from williamsport, pennsylvania on the no line. hello. caller: good morning, thanks for taking the call. the virus isn't ready to let us move on. we have the network that you just mentioned, fox news, and right wing hate radio, they never, believe me, never mention the number of people in the hospitals and how the staff is overrun, overburdened, and they have to put people in hallways and stuff. that is something never mentioned on their. if you solicited them you would think there was nobody in the hospitals and nobody dying from this. we can't even get people to wear masks? and do simple things like that, like getting vaccinated? so have a nice day, thank you. host: from a mike.

mike in nevada. on the yes line. hello. nellis air force base, go ahead. caller: that's good, no problem. i think we are ready to move on. it's a situation where the people who are fully vaccinated like my son could get it. my wife and i are not vaccinated. we got it. i thing it's a tossup. i don't think the masks have mitigated much. we were told any kind of mask could work, cloth masks won't work, n95 wouldn't work. i think the omicron is very mild. like i said, i had it for six days, was back at work. all i had was a fever for two days. my wife only had a sore throat. when i see my granddaughter get into my car and i'm not wearing a mask and she's covering her whole face with her hands the whole time she sitting there, i think it's time to remove the

masks. that's my opinion. it's going to dissipate and become a part of life like any other flu or cold. that's my impression. host: that is mike on the yes line. we have set aside a line this morning for those of you who are maybe not sure where you are at on whether it is time to move on or not. texas, good morning. caller: i appreciate. i want people to turn to the good lord. read revelations 13, 1413, god is what matters here. not democrats and republicans. if we don't turn back to god and start loving one another, people gonna make it worse. thanking god, you all hate him worse more.

host: for you yourself and not being sure if it's time to move on, what do you think about that? caller: it's kind of hard to say. you have got people saying that if you wear the mask, you are democrat and you love your kids. if you don't wear a mask, some people don't wear the masks and their kids get sick, they say you don't love your kids. i don't understand. they say taking the vaccine is ignorant but then they go take other medicines. they need to have love in their hearts and turn to god. host: all right, you made that point. op-ed's >> there is no assurancet

this variant will not be

followed by another. online is where you can find that op-ed about what if we are in the middle, not the end, of the endemic. mike, georgia, yes line. caller: it is time to move on. trump has told people to get vaccinated. my only concern would be the high score. if you cannot show your vaccinated, you should not be even any type of health care. that would be the solution. host: brad, kentucky, not sure. caller: yvonne because it was devastating. -- we need to move on because it

was devastating. it is both yes and no. yes, because it was devastating and everyone will get it. it will spread, but, no, we cannot move on. there are certain things that we have to find out and be made accountable. for example, taxpayer money went to the creation. if money is going to that, the extent of bioweapon's graham, biowarfare, if we are into that. there are human rights violations that we have to answer for it at one point, the l.a. mayor threatened to cut off water and power to homes if they were in violation of covid policies.

these are -- taking up space in hospitals. these speak to human rights violation issues. host: that is brad in kentucky. another op-ed. this is harvey risch in the wall street journal, a professor of epidemiology at yale. time to end the covid emergency. he says omicron peak around january 11 road mortality is declining. influenza typically peaks in mid-february. omicron declining -- >> -- in virginia, mayor reeves, i hear it.