#De Blasio’s ridiculous ‘concession’ on masking on the beach

We appreciate that Mayor Bill de Blasio was just trying to encourage everyone to get jabbed, but he was still wrong to suggest last week that more vaccinations are key to relaxing his outdoor-masking mandates.

As Dr. Anthony Fauci noted Sunday, the feds will soon relax the Centers for Disease Control guidance promoting outdoor masking because the science doesn’t support it: “It’s pretty common sense.”

The Irish Times reports that studies from multiple countries have consistently found an outdoor spread rate of 0.1 percent. The few who got infected outdoors had been in close, prolonged contact with someone not from their households, not passing a stranger while walking the dog.

De Blasio hopes to have 5 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by the end of June and says he may relax his mask order “when we’re out of the woods.”

How magnanimous of him: He’ll reverse a needless policy if we all do as we’re told.

As we’ve urged before: Get vaccinated, absolutely. But do it because it’s the best way to beat the damned virus, not because otherwise the mayor will want you masking up on the beach.