California, Oregon, Washington to Drop School Mask Mandate by Mid-March

California, Oregon, Washington to Drop School Mask Mandate by Mid-March

It was just a few, short weeks ago I reported on the outcry related to pandemic policy hypocrisy when California politicians attended the Super Bowl and went unmasked for large portions of the game. These actions were taken despite Los Angeles County’s very strict masking policy.

Of course, school children were forced to still don face masks despite indoor masking rules being dropped for vaccinated people through the state.

Clearly, the preference cascade toward ditching the mask continues in the deep blue states. California is slated to end mask mandate for school children by mid-March. And, as an additional bonus, unvaccinated individuals can now be mask-free indoors.

Indoor masking will no longer be mandatory at California schools and child-care facilities after March 11, a long-debated and much-anticipated move that comes as the state continues its steady emergence from the Omicron wave of COVID-19.

Though Monday’s announcement is just the latest move to loosen California’s formerly strict face-covering policies, it may wind up being the most significant in the near term — allowing potentially millions of K-12 schoolchildren to go maskless in the classroom for the first time in at least 10 months.

In another major move, California officials also said masks will be strongly recommended — but no longer required — for unvaccinated individuals in most indoor settings starting Tuesday.

“Today is an important day for California, one that is driven by the data and the science,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s health and human services secretary.

But California isn’t the only Blue State ditching the school mask mandate. Oregon and Washington state are doing so as well.

Oregon is ending its requirements on March 12, weeks earlier than initially slated and nearly full two years after “two weeks to flatten the curve”.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority have once again updated their masking guidance as COVID-19 cases, rates and hospitalizations continue to decline.

The OHA announced Monday that the rule requiring masks in indoor public places and schools will be lifted after 11:59 p.m. on March 11. The governor’s office said other state and federal requirements, such as those for health care settings, public transit, and other specialized settings, will remain in place for a period of time.

Originally, OHA said the mask mandate for indoor public places and schools would end March 31, or earlier if COVID numbers improved. State health officials then moved the end date last week to March 19.

Washington’s governor also moved up the timetable for freeing school children from masking requirements.

Gov. Jay Inslee has pushed up the timeline for lifting Washington’s COVID-19 mask requirements for schools and businesses to Saturday, March 12, after federal officials last week loosened public-health guidelines on face coverings.

Made in conjunction with the governors of Oregon and California, Monday’s announcement comes as the number of cases and hospitalizations due to the new coronavirus in Washington continues to decline.

Inslee earlier this month had announced the mask orders — which cover grocery stores, child care facilities, gyms, bars and other indoor establishments — would lift March 21. But federal health regulators on Friday revised federal health guidelines said masks were no longer necessary for many people.

As the virus’s omicron variant wanes, conversations are sparking everywhere — from classrooms and homes, to retail shops and executive suites — about when and how to return to a pre-pandemic modes of life.

Did these governors follow The Science ™ in the policy shift? Yes….the political science.

Impact Research, a Columbia, Maryland, political science laboratory, sent a memo to Democrats: “After two years that necessitated lockdowns, travel bans, school closures, mask mandates, and nearly a million deaths, nearly every American finally has the tools to protect themselves from this virus. It’s time for Democrats to take credit for ending the COVID crisis phase of the COVID war, point to important victories like vaccine distribution and providing economic stability to Americans, and fully enter the rebuilding phase that comes after any war.”

Impact Research's public opinion arm, which works exclusively for Democrats, released a memo outlining how democrats need to "Take credit for ending the COVID Crisis." pic.twitter.com/9yZdv9Nzue

— American Populist Union (@PopulistUnion) February 26, 2022

I suspect that the Democrats’ pandemic extravaganza of power-grabs is not going to be forgotten by voters anytime soon…and maybe not even the young voters-to-be.

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