Los Angeles County Mask Policy Giving Residents Freedom Whiplash - California Globe

rintongs.blogspot.com

A Florida federal judge ruled on Monday that the Center for Disease Control does not have the authority to issue a mask mandate for air travel, or on public transportation, only one week following the Biden administration extending the air travel and public transportation mask mandate an additional 15 days.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said in her ruling the CDC failed to adequately explain its reasons for the mandate, and did not allow public comment in violation of federal procedures for issuing new rules, CNBC reported.

Later the same day, the Transportation Security Administration said it will no longer enforce the mandate.

Across the country, people in airports, on planes and public transit posted videos of cheering at the announcement and masks being ripped off.

This popular decision and nearly universal reaction went viral. But it was only a matter of time before threats of a Biden Administration appeal were leaked.

This only emboldened the country’s most iron-fisted public health officials.

Late Thursday, only 4 days after the federal judge’s decision, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, who does not have a medical degree, announced that masks will again be required on all public transit within Los Angeles County, causing whiplash of the county’s residents. Ferrer’s order includes buses, trains, taxis and ride-hailing service vehicles, under a new COVID-19 health order that takes effect Friday, ABC7 reported.

Ferrer said Thursday the order is based on the CDC’s “opinion” that mask-wearing on transit remains an essential step in preventing spread of COVID-19, despite numerous peer reviewed studies finding “Americans’ many months of mask-wearing has likely provided little to no health benefit and might even have been counterproductive in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.”

Airline officials have repeatedly asked the Biden administration to end the mask requirement given that the air filtration systems on planes circulate the air 20-30 times more than even a hospital ICU, along with other COVID restrictions such as pre-departure testing for all international arrivals, including citizens, CNBC reported.

It was only in February when Los Angeles hosted the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. America was treated to another episode of “MaskGate” at the NFC Championship game in Los Angeles, when photos on social media brought us images of unmasked California Gov. Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, posing for pics with Magic Johnson, despite the Los Angeles County mask mandate and SoFi Stadium requirements.

The Globe asked if it was “another French Laundry moment?” Rules for the commoners, but not the elected aristocracy and celebrity elite.

Following the NFC Championship game was “FaceAPalooza” at the Super Bowl in which prominent California celebrities and lawmakers were seen without masks once again, breaking both state and local laws, while school children went school in Los Angeles in a mask the following morning… after 80,000 Sports fans got to have unmasked fun only the day before.

Mask autocrats like Barbara Ferrer bully those she is sure she can control – school children, public transit riders, seniors, and health care workers. Fortunately, that list is shrinking, but she is clinging to her emergency powers courtesy of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s clinging to his emergency powers… more than two years after the emergency.

According to the LA County Public Health website on mask mandates:

EVERYONE* MUST wear a mask:
On all forms of public transportation in LA County. This includes trains, buses, taxis and ride-shares. In all indoor transportation hubs in LA County, including airport and bus terminals, train and subway stations, seaports or other indoor port terminals, or any other indoor area that serves as a transportation hub. In healthcare settings In long-term care settings and adult/senior care facilities In state and local correctional facilities and detention centers Shelters and cooling centers In any other location where it is the policy of the business or venue

EVERYONE* MUST wear a mask:

On all forms of public transportation in LA County. This includes trains, buses, taxis and ride-shares.
In all indoor transportation hubs in LA County, including airport and bus terminals, train and subway stations, seaports or other indoor port terminals, or any other indoor area that serves as a transportation hub.
In healthcare settings
In long-term care settings and adult/senior care facilities
In state and local correctional facilities and detention centers
Shelters and cooling centers
In any other location where it is the policy of the business or venue

The LA County website announced on 4-21-22: Masks are still required in some settings and strongly recommended in others – see the summary below and details in the Health Officer Order.

Barbara Ferrer’s draconian COVID lockdown and mask orders only appear justified by the bizarre notion, “As long as we can save just one life…” This means that everyone else’s freedoms and personal risk assessments do not matter and are traded for some perceived safety and security from the government.

Which freedoms will Americans trade for security? People in Los Angeles should start asking, and then decide if Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer is the arbiter of those freedoms.