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Re: 'Unprecedented': "Science-ignoring California" Health Workers Face Fine or Imprisonment for Going Maskless
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Dumb-ass Newsom
Sep 27, 2023, 2:30:03 PM9/27/23
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On 26 Sep 2023, Rightist Incompetence Rules Red States
<now...@protonmail.com> posted some news:uf00mf$2ora2$8...@dont-email.me:
> Hysterical leftist California ignores science again.
Some of California’s most populous counties have made seasonal mask
mandates the new normal for health care workers due to the increased risk
of respiratory viruses during the winter months, a move that critics say
is an overreach unsupported by science.
San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Sonoma counties in California’s San Francisco
Bay Area last week issued orders that workers in hospitals, doctors’
offices, and other clinical sites must mask up from November to April.
They followed the lead of nearby Santa Clara County, which last March
wrote its own flu season mandate that applies to everyone in medical
settings. Of these health agencies, only Sonoma County set an end date of
April 2024. The others said they will enforce their orders every year from
November to April until further notice.
A health care worker's refusal to wear a mask could mean a fine,
imprisonment, or both, with exceptions granted to some—including those
working with deaf patients, or who have a disability or health condition
that can be worsened by masks. The requirements also vary. San Mateo's
states that masks should be worn anywhere a patient may go, such as
elevators and lobbies, but not in cafeterias or gift shops. Contra Costa's
says they should be worn in spaces where patients are present.
The Bay Area orders come months after the nation’s most comprehensive
study of general population mask mandates showed they do little to no good
in terms of stopping the spread of respiratory viruses, and critics say
they are a sign that the nation’s most progressive regions are still
politicizing the pandemic.
"This is the last vestige of a political response to Covid," said Monica
Gandhi, a physician and professor at the University of California, San
Francisco. "But it is not backed up by data. And if we don’t back up our
mandates with data, we will risk even more erosion in trust in public
health."
The health agencies argue the mandates are justified given that the risk
of flu, COVID-19, and other respiratory viruses is largely seasonal. They
cite as their legal basis California Health and Safety Code section
120175, which gives county health offices authority to "take measures as
may be necessary" to prevent the spread of infectious disease.
However, interpreting this law to give such broad powers to public health
officials is "unprecedented," said Laura Powell, a Bay Area attorney who
has advocated against state mask and vaccine mandates.
"Under our form of government, state and local laws are supposed to be
made by elected representatives through a public process, not announced as
edicts from unelected officials," Powell said.
Matt Brown, a spokesman for the Sonoma health agency, acknowledged that
the departments "had some coordination about these orders," but said each
county "made its own decision and drafted its own version."
San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara health departments did not
respond to a request for comment.
https://freebeacon.com/california/unprecedented-california-health-workers-
face-fine-or-imprisonment-for-going-maskless/
The surgical mask is a bad fit for risk reduction
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4868614/
The C.D.C. concedes that cloth masks do not protect against the virus as
effectively as other masks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/health/cloth-masks-covid-cdc.html
New Research Finds ‘Little to No’ Evidence Masks Effectively Lessened
Covid Spread
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/new-research-finds-little-to-no-
evidence-masks-effectively-lessened-covid-spread/
<now...@protonmail.com> posted some news:uf00mf$2ora2$8...@dont-email.me:
> Hysterical leftist California ignores science again.
Some of California’s most populous counties have made seasonal mask
mandates the new normal for health care workers due to the increased risk
of respiratory viruses during the winter months, a move that critics say
is an overreach unsupported by science.
San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Sonoma counties in California’s San Francisco
Bay Area last week issued orders that workers in hospitals, doctors’
offices, and other clinical sites must mask up from November to April.
They followed the lead of nearby Santa Clara County, which last March
wrote its own flu season mandate that applies to everyone in medical
settings. Of these health agencies, only Sonoma County set an end date of
April 2024. The others said they will enforce their orders every year from
November to April until further notice.
A health care worker's refusal to wear a mask could mean a fine,
imprisonment, or both, with exceptions granted to some—including those
working with deaf patients, or who have a disability or health condition
that can be worsened by masks. The requirements also vary. San Mateo's
states that masks should be worn anywhere a patient may go, such as
elevators and lobbies, but not in cafeterias or gift shops. Contra Costa's
says they should be worn in spaces where patients are present.
The Bay Area orders come months after the nation’s most comprehensive
study of general population mask mandates showed they do little to no good
in terms of stopping the spread of respiratory viruses, and critics say
they are a sign that the nation’s most progressive regions are still
politicizing the pandemic.
"This is the last vestige of a political response to Covid," said Monica
Gandhi, a physician and professor at the University of California, San
Francisco. "But it is not backed up by data. And if we don’t back up our
mandates with data, we will risk even more erosion in trust in public
health."
The health agencies argue the mandates are justified given that the risk
of flu, COVID-19, and other respiratory viruses is largely seasonal. They
cite as their legal basis California Health and Safety Code section
120175, which gives county health offices authority to "take measures as
may be necessary" to prevent the spread of infectious disease.
However, interpreting this law to give such broad powers to public health
officials is "unprecedented," said Laura Powell, a Bay Area attorney who
has advocated against state mask and vaccine mandates.
"Under our form of government, state and local laws are supposed to be
made by elected representatives through a public process, not announced as
edicts from unelected officials," Powell said.
Matt Brown, a spokesman for the Sonoma health agency, acknowledged that
the departments "had some coordination about these orders," but said each
county "made its own decision and drafted its own version."
San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara health departments did not
respond to a request for comment.
https://freebeacon.com/california/unprecedented-california-health-workers-
face-fine-or-imprisonment-for-going-maskless/
The surgical mask is a bad fit for risk reduction
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4868614/
The C.D.C. concedes that cloth masks do not protect against the virus as
effectively as other masks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/health/cloth-masks-covid-cdc.html
New Research Finds ‘Little to No’ Evidence Masks Effectively Lessened
Covid Spread
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/new-research-finds-little-to-no-
evidence-masks-effectively-lessened-covid-spread/
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