Written by William Hale
Masks have been the predominant form of COVID policy since March 2020, and while many have embraced masking as the “new normal,” others have fought against masking mandates entirely. With California’s mask mandate for indoor businesses expiring February 15th (for vaccinated individuals), parents and kids are waiting for Gov. Gavin Newsome and his administration to lift the highly controversial mask mandate in schools.
In an interview with NBC on Friday, Newsom said that we are “moving out of the pandemic mindset.” He also suggested that masks are a part of this “pandemic mindset” and that the removal of mandates in schools is a question of “when” rather than “if.”
Requiring six-year-olds to wear ineffective cloth masks for the entire school day is, of course, completely ridiculous, but the hypocrisy of California’s elected officials at the Super Bowl was unsurprising. Los Angeles’s SoFi Stadium was packed with ~70,000 individuals, including unmasked politicians and celebrities like LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, Lebron James and Jennifer Lopez.
Despite the non-compliance of these big names, thousands of kids in the Los Angeles Unified School District will surely be masked-up for the rest of the school year — considering that LA county’s mask mandate is extended indefinitely.
While the Governor’s rhetoric suggests light at the end of the tunnel, Democratic lawmakers seem insistent on sustaining California’s COVID tyranny. For example, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks of Oakland recently proposed a vaccination mandate for all businesses, their employees, and independent contractors. AD-1993 would force small businesses to pay fees for failing to comply with the proposed vaccine mandate.
For now, eyes are on Newsom and Garcetti as patience for masking continues to dwindle among ordinary people.
Photo Cred: Mark J. Terrill/AP
