Cheer up, Californians. Your governor, Gavin Newsom, is on the job and looking out for you.
You will be the best cared-for children in the country. Just see that you wash up before dinner and make sure you get behind the ears.
Maybe you’ll all start pushing back when he starts telling you when it’s OK to go to the toilet, but since you’ve elected Democrats pretty much exclusively for a decade, you probably enjoy being led around by the nose and told what to do by the state.
Yesterday, Newsom spoke from on high, mandating that all California citizens wear masks to do just about anything. He was very specific — painfully and insultingly so. The swollen list of do’s and don’ts of mask-wearing marks the epitome of nanny-statism in the nanniest-state of them all.
“Science shows that face coverings and masks work,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the order. “They are critical to keeping those who are around you safe, keeping businesses open and restarting our economy.”
Science doesn’t show that masks are “critical” to opening businesses or restarting the economy. The government tells us they’re critical. Masks are very good at preventing the spread of COVID-19 but beyond that, they possess limited utility. Maybe some of the designs are unique and creative, but as far as “restarting the economy,” masks haven’t evolved to turn that trick yet.
I’m sick of hearing what “science says” from Democratic governors who invoke “science” as if it were a sacred word and we all have to worship at its altar. The fact is, science doesn’t know squat about this bug and their admitted ignorance is costing the planet trillions of dollars.
In defense of science and scientists, they don’t claim to have all the answers and, since science is a process, we are all learning together about this brand new coronavirus — how it’s spread, who can spread it, and why and how it kills. The fact is, governments wildly overreacted to this pandemic — the shutdown was too draconian and unnecessarily long. But governments developed policies that featured an overabundance of caution. If it was one city or one neighborhood, it wouldn’t have mattered. But the whole country? Massive amounts of wealth disappeared overnight and people will be suffering the effects of this gigantic blunder for years.
The coronavirus lockdown also revealed the latent autocratic tendencies in many of our politicians. They love to control other people, tell them what to do, where to go. It’s heady stuff and for Newsom and a lot of Democrats, it’s hard to know when to stop.
The order will require people to wear masks when inside or in line for any indoor public spaces, in health care settings like hospitals and pharmacies, while waiting for or riding public transportation and in outdoor spaces where it’s not possible to stay six feet apart from other people.
Until now, the Democratic governor had let local governments decide whether to mandate masks, an issue that’s become politically fraught as some Americans resist orders to wear them. He said he’s issuing the order now because too many people are going out in public without face coverings as businesses, restaurants and other sectors of the economy reopen.
The order not only dictates when you have to wear a mask, but it also details when a mask is not necessary.
The order includes several exceptions, including for outdoor recreation and exercise such as walking, hiking, running or bicycling. But if people are doing such activities and cannot stay 6 feet apart from others, the state says they should wear masks.
Other exceptions include: Children under 2, people with medical conditions that prevent them from wearing a mask, people who are hearing impaired or communicate with people who are hearing impaired and people obtaining receiving treatments on their nose and mouth. There’s also an exception if wearing a face covering would violate workplace safety guidelines.
People eating out at restaurants wouldn’t have to wear masks when they are eating and drinking as long as they are 6 feet away from others.
Why children under 2? How many 4-year-olds do you know who would willingly wear a mask if it wasn’t stapled to their face?
No word on how the state is going to enforce this diktat. Might I recommend 20 lashes with a cat o’ nine tails in public? Now that’s “mask-shaming.”
I will wear a mask until a vaccine is found because I am at great risk to get seriously ill if I contract COVID-19 as is my Zsu-Zsu. It makes perfect sense for us to wear a mask and it’s my choice to do so.
For others, I leave it to their common sense and self-preservation instinct to do the right thing.
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