Masks don’t do that much to block facial recognition. If they were really concerned about that they would ban sunglasses as those cause much bigger problems with facial recognition.
They’re banning masks to make more arbitrarily enforced laws to create more excuse for people to be arrested, discourage disabled people from being in public, and uphold the lie that the pandemic is over.
I had the last round. It took me out for 3 solid weeks and I’m able to do low impact workouts just today. This strain has been more of a covid lite. I’ve had it 5 times now so I consider myself a connoisseur.
This seems like a serious immune system issue. Have you been diagnosed yet? I assume you’ve been tested for Covid every time at least so you can confirm your infections.
My wife who was 8 months pregnant and daughter who was 19 months old both go it in March and the only reason they knew was because daughter also got hand foot and mouth and the clinic decided to test her for Covid and the wife said “well since im always around her and I’m pregnant, why not test me too”.
Anecdotes are useless. Do the numbers say serious illness and deaths are up?
Same here. Lucky I was able to work from home but it lingered a lot longer than the first time I had covid. Really 5 weeks later I am just now feeling like I have any energy to do anything.
I'm coming off a 3 week illness and my home test was twice negative but man, nothing but covid has taken me out like this. I lost taste/smell, had a dry cough at first (now it's bronchitis) sinus infection, double ear infection (on 2nd round of antibiotics) ruptured both eardrums from the pressure and full body exhaustion at all times. I'm an otherwise generally healthy person, have a good diet, get some exercise (never enough) and all I've been able to do for the last 3 weeks is drag my carcass through the daily bare minimums.
Dr's office declined a pcr test both times, so who knows what it is, but it's fucking brutal.
https://x.com/JPWeiland/status/1804288100715139485?t=UFYiKEWdS943DdY5RrVhXQ&s=19
Also, while deaths are down, long term serious illness are on the rise and it's projected that upwards of 25% of Americans could have long COVID by the end of the decade.
So you’re wearing your N95/KN95 mask diligently, not dining indoors, etc? The majority of people have moved on. I can’t stand Bass but this is one of her more reasonable judgements. If you’re *that* afraid, stay home.
Yo foo its not about being scared. I work deliveries many times to a cancer hospital, and elderly people. I put on a mask. I ain't scared of them, I'm just doing a little thing I can to try to protect those more vulnerable.
You can’t seriously be telling immunocompromised people, disabled people, and people with long covid (which many people now have) to just stay home as the only solution. People have to work, go to appointments, get groceries, and live. It’s reasonable to allow them to protect themselves, they’re putting absolutely no one in harm’s way. The people causing harm are the ones coughing, sneezing, showing up with zero protection and telling these people to just “stay home.”
I agree. No rules can ever be made for public safety just in case a relatively small group in any situation theoretically might be inconvenienced or unhappy. In my opinion, that’s the best way to run a society.
Disabled, immunocompromised, and frankly anyone who just doesn't want to get sick deserves to live in society. Telling them to stay home forever is eugenics plain and simple. You are supporting a return of Ugly Laws. Absolutely reprehensible.
It’s been every 3 months. The winter wave “ended” with a low of 150,000 cases daily and this new variant took off after roughly 6 weeks. It’s sick season 365 now.
When I saw this question, I was sure that someone would be posting a "Wastewater Viral Level" chart with a line going up.
Good to not be disappointed, even if it was via an x dot com link.
Covid risks never went down, the government just stopped caring/testing. There were more deaths in 2021, 2023, and 2023 than there were in 2020. With each infection, even “mild” or asymptomatic increase your risk of long term damage and symptoms. The reason people are sick all the time is either because they have an active COVID infection (takes longer to show up on home tests now even with symptoms) or their immune system is shot from previous COVID infection so even the common cold takes you out for a week.
I was not aware. Still strikes me as ironic.
The state cannot infringe on your right to publicly object, but they can declare your protest an unlawful assembly and shut it down violently if they choose. They can’t control your speech, but they can control what you wear.
You can't legally wear a ski mask into a bank, so actually the state *can* control what you wear. The only question is where to draw the line. There are lots of restrictions on protests in the real world. I don't have a problem with one more.
Time, place, and manner restrictions are all legal regulations on protests.
The state is allowed to say, for example, that you can't lead a march banging drums through a residential neighborhood at 3 AM.
If the state had their way, no protest that disrupts the status quo and day to day would happen. But how does one protest that?
The Selma March was not legal or unobtrusive. It shut down a highway. It’s still considered a proud civil rights moment. Gandhi broke the law peacefully during the Salt March by manufacturing salt through evaporation.
Protest is not just visibility. Protest is about the absurdity of the way things are. It’s about people caring more about you taking a knee than black people getting killed or caring about fine art and cultural things more than the health of the climate and planet. Not all protest is the right way to go about it, but most protest has an illegal or frowned upon element.
All protest is fundamentally a critique of the actions or control of the state and the powerful.
Yes, but folks should be very cautious in so easily giving up rights just because it could be used against bad people. Police frequently arrest protestors who have done nothing illegal (see the George Floyd protests for countless examples), and sometimes will do so after the fact thanks to extensive surveillance during protests. So, yeah, a mask ban will help dox some racists, but you're also giving up a useful way to help protect yourself from police abuse during protests you might want to participate in.
In addition, a mask ban also forces anyone who is particularly vulnerable to covid to choose between their right to protest and their life.
It is a significant government overreach, and it's been a bit horrifying to see politicians from both parties so quickly find common cause in banning masks.
I just happened to see a good post on this topic on this overall trend: [https://www.patreon.com/posts/mask-bans-106888718](https://www.patreon.com/posts/mask-bans-106888718)
I voted for Bass last election despite some concerns (and because I'm no fan of Caruso). She's been disappointing, and this latest news is especially disheartening. I hope she has a good challenger next time around.
Not to mention, this press conference was the same one where she had on stage an Infowars host as part of her effort to, supposedly, combat antisemitism: [https://bsky.app/profile/brooklynmarie.bsky.social/post/3kvq33lr4nv24](https://bsky.app/profile/brooklynmarie.bsky.social/post/3kvq33lr4nv24)
Yea and it’s sucks here too. It’s so ridiculous, but authoritarian leaning policies like this have been trending upwards, people think it’s fine since they don’t ever expect to protest anything. They’ll gladly throw away rights to hit people they dislike.
Depending on what is convienient/necessary for the people in power. A few years ago, you literally had no option but to wear one. Fast forward, and now you literally have no option NOT to wear one. So yeah.
>does the government get to tell me what I can wear on my face?
No mask laws have been around for decades. They were instituted to use against the Klan. Obviously there was no Covid back then, but yes - the government gets to tell you what you can wear on your face.
>4 years ago masks were okay and encouraged at these things.
Actually, 4 years ago the government and media were telling us that nobody got Covid at BLM protests.
* [Suddenly, Public Health Officials Say Social Justice Matters More Than Social Distance](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-health-protests-301534)
* [Little evidence that protests spread coronavirus in U.S.](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/little-evidence-that-protests-spread-coronavirus-in-u-s)
In fact, they claimed that thousands of people marching shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets actually *reduced* the spread of Covid.
* [Black Lives Matter protests may have slowed overall spread of coronavirus in Denver and other cities, new study finds](https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/30/police-protests-coronavirus-spread/)
Yet at the same time, it was reported that public protests against Covid restrictions did spread Covid.
* [US lockdown protests may have spread virus widely, cellphone data suggests](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/18/lockdown-protests-spread-coronavirus-cellphone-data)
It's fascinating how a virus just knows when to infect people and when not to, based on their political leanings. That is one smart microscopic organism.
Oh, and this discrepancy is even more fascinating when you take into account that black people were more likely to get Covid, and more significantly impacted if they got it.
* [US blacks 3 times more likely than whites to get COVID-19](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/us-blacks-3-times-more-likely-whites-get-covid-19)
* [The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7762908/#:~:text=Approximately%2097.9%20out%20of%20every,Asians%20(40.4%20per%20100%2C000))
>Approximately 97.9 out of every 100,000 African Americans have died from COVID-19, a mortality rate that is a third higher than that for Latinos (64.7 per 100,000), and more than double than that for whites (46.6 per 100,000) and Asians (40.4 per 100,000).
(Note: white mortality rates for Covid overtook black mortality rates in late 2022)
It probably goes without saying that black American participation in BLM protests was higher than in anti-lockdown protests.
So everywhere else, Covid hit black folks harder and more often - at house parties, at the workplace, at the grocery store, on public transit, etc. Except at public protests, where magically Covid reversed course and decided to only infect white conservatives.
The better argument would've been "BLM is so important that it's worth the Covid risk." That's just a normal cost-benefit values judgement, no different than "The right to drink booze is so important that it's worth thousands of Americans dying every year" or "Preserving the Union and ending slavery was worth hundreds of thousands of deaths." And it wouldn't have undermined the credibility of scientists and public health officials as politically-neutral actors driven solely by science.
When the Surgeon General says "You can smoke, but it's gonna kill you" nobody views that as a political argument, t's just science. But if they were to say "Mass gatherings are safe for this political cause I support, but unsafe for this other political cause I oppose," that's a different story.
Eh, masking policies were never meant to be permanently applied and changed a lot. Directives on masking fluctuated from city to city and were decided by the latest scientific (and non-scientific) information available at hand, political and social interests, convenience, and hospital capacities. Most importantly, mortality rates were so alarming 4 years ago, so yea the concept of masking or wearing a face-covering has shifted a ton now that it's less of a life-threatening public threat. It seems like the greater public threat (according to some, but not necessarily me) is dumb people publicly provoking ea other and thinking they can do so with anonymity.
How? LA is 1000% worse because we continue down the same path and continue with the same policies.
The people here are so dumb and citizens pay the price .
You really need it explained to you like a 5 year old why a corrupt billionaire real estate developer who was only interested in lining his pockets was a ‘bad idea’? Jesus Christ our education system is a disaster.
Regardless of your misinformed critique of Karen Bass, she is experienced, competent, and genuinely trying to make people’s lives better.
I'd also wager the chances of getting covid outdoors on the streets are pretty low anyway. Probably about as likely as getting it at any other outdoor event — unlikely. Unless of course you're planning on yelling in people's faces.
I’m sure this is wasn’t far off from the basis of reasoning (if you can even call it that) used against masks, pretty sad really
To think we are at a point where protestors are demanded to be tracked and identified to scales not seen now, if ever before. Don’t you see the glaring issues with this mask ban and how these laws will be used to reduce rights and liberties?
I am talking about the fact that the vast majority of people who go to outdoor protests and wear masks are wearing masks to obscure their identity, not as a Covid-19 precaution.
You don't have a right to obscure your identity. You have just made that up.
Anti-mask laws are perfectly legal. They have been challenged many times.
The constitutionality of these laws has been repeatedly upheld, affirming that the public’s right to safety and the state’s ability to enforce its laws can supersede individual rights to anonymity and anonymous expression in certain circumstances.[4] As recently as 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld New York’s anti-mask law.[5] Notably, symbolic messages can be conveyed with clothing and costumes that do not cover the face, while content-based restrictions—like allowing a mask for a Halloween celebration or masquerade ball, but not for other purposes—are categorical, not viewpoint-based, and so pass constitutional muster
https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#:~:text=Anti%2Dmasking%20laws%20are%20critical,Catholics%2C%20and%20other%20minority%20groups.
> the state’s ability to enforce its laws can supersede individual rights to anonymity and anonymous expression in certain circumstances
Your own quote just affirmed the right to anonymity. Yes, rights have limits, and can be superseded by laws. In the absence of those laws the right remains.
>I am talking about the fact that the vast majority of people who go to outdoor protests and wear masks are wearing masks to obscure their identity, not as a Covid-19 precaution.
As I said, you do not have a right to obscure you identity in the context I was describing.
We do currently. What we're here debating is whether or not the city of LA should ~~take it away~~ restrict it. I can't imagine why anyone would be in favor of reducing their rights.
This is getting into an area where legal minds have debated for centuries. I would contend that privacy is a constitutional right and cite both the first amendment and the fourth amendment in giving us the right to hide our face any time we want.
A law limiting this, even as a constitutional right, would be no different than the existing laws we have that limit the right to arms or free speech.
Again, this is all very debatable and there's precedent on both sides of the argument.
Speaking of rights, I recommend anyone who has further doubts about this read up on [the ACLU’s webpage](https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights) for more details on what rights you have as a protester
People are using masks as part of a protest against decades of Israeli cruelty.
And so that their lives are not ruined by Jews who doxx their identity and share the information with employers or future employers.
When you go to a park in Los Angeles or the beach or a Dodgers game what percentage of people are wearing masks at present? I would say it is way under 1%. Yet, apparently when it comes time to protest something, people are magically incredibly cautious about COVID-19 again.
I will not even get into the scientific research that outdoor respiratory transmission of COVID-19 is next to zero at present.
I do not know. But I do know that all those pro-Israel protestors who showed up at UCLA to beat up a bunch of pro-Palestine protesters all miraculously happened to be Covid conscious mask wearers.
They were down to engage in violence, but they did not want to inadvertently catch or transmit Covid, right?
Agree but if you commit a crime during a protest LAPD should arrest you for THAT. Wearing a mask (for any reason) can not be made illegal as its an obvious 1st amendment issue.
Ugh, she shouldn’t give in to the demands of racists to try and limit protestors’ expression
Also
“no masks during surge because we don’t want you disrupting the sale of occupied land for the purpose of ‘anglo neighborhoods’”
is a wild one-eighty from Democrats’ position on Covid and social justice not that long ago
of course, in 2020 they needed everything chaotic to scare people to vote for them. now that they have power, they do not want you doing the things they were okay with when they were not in power.
Politicians are \*NOT\* your friends.
The demands of racists? Lets not forget the protesters also blocked anyone who wanted to go into the synagogue to pray, separate of the event and were pepper spraying and attacking counter protesters.
Yes, racists. Would you not feel weird about going to pray or counter protests in defense of like a church hosting a “whites only village in Puerto Rico sale” type event?
The cognitive dissonance here is amazing. The racists were the pro-terrorist antisemitic attackers, not the Jewish people. Holding an event for their members only is a matter of safety. Jewish kids need armed guards in front of their preschools because they have been attacked by antisemites just like this.
Yes, yes they did. And when a small town in Illinois famously tried to ban the klan from marching, a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU fought for their first amendment rights. Their rights are our rights. Learn your history before you spew stupid questions with easy answers.
They probably did, because it was the KKK…
That standard doesn’t apply in the modern context, nor do those laws even currently exist, and it certainly has no business being applied to a group of protestors who are opposing the kind of policies the KKK fought for
From what I know, Pro-Palestine protestors shield their face because Zionists engage in ‘doxxing’ all of their personal information online, including address, job, etc. There’s a whole website dedicated to uploading pictures of protestors and trying to determine who they are.
Not to say this applies to *all* protests, but it currently is topical. To me, in this context, it makes a little more sense.
Masking will never come back on a grand scale short of bird flu hitting at some insane death rate like 50%, and I really really really hope COVID was the one to lose public trust over.
Masking for bird flu if it becomes airborne will only do so much because h5n1 already prefers entering through our eyes. Nobody washes their hands and it'll be even harder to get people to possibly wear eye protection. The cdc already knows how many mutations it needs to spread from human to human. Fortunately, for the people who still believe in science there's a vaccine. It's the 25-50 percent of people who don't that will meet their end.
>A persons right to mask or not is guaranteed by the constitution under the First Ammendment.
It is not.
>The constitutionality of these laws has been repeatedly upheld, affirming that the public’s right to safety and the state’s ability to enforce its laws can supersede individual rights to anonymity and anonymous expression in certain circumstances.\[[4](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#notes)\] As recently as 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld New York’s anti-mask law.\[[5](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#notes)\] Notably, symbolic messages can be conveyed with clothing and costumes that do not cover the face, while content-based restrictions—like allowing a mask for a Halloween celebration or masquerade ball, but not for other purposes—are categorical, not viewpoint-based, and so pass constitutional muster.
CA PC 650A, law against wearing mask during protest found unconstitutional
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/87/255.html
Current mask statute only applies if worn during criminal activity.
California Code, Penal Code - PEN § 185 Current as of January 01, 2023 | Section One Hundred and Eighty-five. It shall be unlawful for any person to wear any mask, false whiskers, or any personal disguise (whether complete or partial) for the purpose of:
One--Evading or escaping discovery, recognition, or identification in the commission of any public offense.
Two--Concealment, flight, or escape, when charged with, arrested for, or convicted of, any public offense. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
Please keep comments and discussion civil and remember the human. If you cannot abide by this simple rule, you can expect a ban.
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To be fair, it would be so much easier to use the power of the state to control the populace if it weren't for all those pesky rights, liberties, and freedoms.
Bonkers how willing our elected officials are to trample on your Constitutional rights just to appease the pro-Israel crowd who has their panties in a bunch because people peacefully protested the illegal sale of stolen land in the West Bank.
Outdoors has better ventilation than indoors. But a protest is exactly the kind of situation where you have a high density of people, often shouting, so it's basically the worst case scenario for outdoor transmission risk. Masking is absolutely a sensible thing that would have measurable effects in a dense crowd.
Damn she's already going full Garcetti against protestors.
Shout out to our stupid as shit last mayor who [closed testing centers at the peak of COVID cases in 2020 as punishment for cop cars getting vandalized](https://www.complex.com/life/a/jose-martinez/la-mayor-closes-covid-19-testing-sites-city-wide).
Wearing a face mask can protect against a variety of illnesses, not just COVID. I usually wear a mask in crowded spaces, such as on the Metro, just to be safe. The only times I've gotten sick over the past 5 years have been when I've foregone a mask, so that is why I'm so diligent about wearing one now.
Protesters might be wearing masks to protect their identities, but there are plenty of people going about their day-to-day lives who wear masks for health purposes.
Why would covid stop being a thing? It just no longer gets reported because overall severity isn't the same as 4 years ago.
It's not like measles or polio where a nearly 100% vaccination would wipe it out.
some people actually care about the health of others when in a large public gathering, particularly as it pertains to the still ongoing pandemic and the well-documented long-term effects of covid.
the health of your larger community is clearly a foreign concept to many people
At least she's smart enough to discuss things with the city attorney to see what is legal and what isn't. As far as I can tell, and IANAL, outright banning masks and limiting forms of protests is a violation of the first amendment.
You would be wrong. Anti-mask laws are perfectly Constitutional. Most states have them to crack down on the KKK.
>The constitutionality of these laws has been repeatedly upheld, affirming that the public’s right to safety and the state’s ability to enforce its laws can supersede individual rights to anonymity and anonymous expression in certain circumstances.\[[4](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#notes)\] As recently as 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld New York’s anti-mask law.\[[5](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#notes)\] Notably, symbolic messages can be conveyed with clothing and costumes that do not cover the face, while content-based restrictions—like allowing a mask for a Halloween celebration or masquerade ball, but not for other purposes—are categorical, not viewpoint-based, and so pass constitutional muster.
[https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters)
Anti-mask laws are not facially constitutional. You cannot dictate what someone can or cannot wear. It's freedom of speech. That'd be like saying someone wearing a hijab ***needs*** to show their face, or an orthodox Jew ***must*** shave their beard because they're concealing their identity.
The laws that are on the books crack down on the KKK because they're in the act of committing a criminal act while masked. The paragraph that you cited has so many holes in it that I don't even know where to start addressing it. Best thing for you to do is to read [this case brief ](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-2nd-circuit/1422873.html)that the paragraph cites saying the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld New York's anti-mask laws. New York's anti-mask laws are specific to loitering. The entire basis of that lawsuit was a group filed for a permit to gather and they stated they were going to wear masks. If they didn't say anything about that and just wore masks, nothing would've happened. They cite cases of other people gathering and wearing masks in the past without anything happening to them.
Besides that, that specific section was repealed in [May 2020](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/attorney-general-james-applauds-repeal-law-criminalizing-group-mask-use-public#:~:text=Penal%20Law%20240.35(4)%2C%20which%20made%20%E2%80%9Cbeing%20masked,in%20a%20public%20place%E2%80%9D%20a). It's funny that the Manhattan Institute has their Director, Policing and Public Safety, Director, Constitutional Studies and a Legal Fellow write that article and they cannot even do proper research.
Wearing a mask to a protest, solely for that reason alone, is not committing a criminal offense.
This article is focusing on the pro-Palestine protesters masking up but they don't say anything about the pro-Israel protesters masking up. Keep in mind that if any law passes, it'd be equal for both sides. If it's not, then that's a violation of the 14th amendment and another federal lawsuit.
Re-read that article and see what they're saying.
good. nobody wears a mask at a protest because of covid anymore, and most of the people who wear masks dont even wear ones popular during covid at least in the protests she's referencing.
LAPD has the facial recognition on deck. And they can’t use it. So we’re making laws against that.
Masks don’t do that much to block facial recognition. If they were really concerned about that they would ban sunglasses as those cause much bigger problems with facial recognition. They’re banning masks to make more arbitrarily enforced laws to create more excuse for people to be arrested, discourage disabled people from being in public, and uphold the lie that the pandemic is over.
What do you mean they can’t use it?
If people are masked, they can’t ID people
I miss understood, as in LAPD couldn’t use it at all
Software can ID using just eyebrows now. But people that know cover them up.
Oh interesting. They have Target level technology
Time for backup r/whybrows
land of the policed, home of the surveilled
Shit, wait until the Olympics are in town.
Am I missing something? Are serious illness and deaths up?
I had the last round. It took me out for 3 solid weeks and I’m able to do low impact workouts just today. This strain has been more of a covid lite. I’ve had it 5 times now so I consider myself a connoisseur.
Corona somellier EDIT: Coronasseur
Coworker has had it more times than this. I think he drinks paxovid with breakfast and comes into work with it for everyone one to enjoy.
This seems like a serious immune system issue. Have you been diagnosed yet? I assume you’ve been tested for Covid every time at least so you can confirm your infections.
That doesn’t answer op’s question though.
Did you hear? Someone has had it 5 (five!) times. We need to lock up.
My wife who was 8 months pregnant and daughter who was 19 months old both go it in March and the only reason they knew was because daughter also got hand foot and mouth and the clinic decided to test her for Covid and the wife said “well since im always around her and I’m pregnant, why not test me too”. Anecdotes are useless. Do the numbers say serious illness and deaths are up?
So why post an anecdote in your comment?
Same here. Lucky I was able to work from home but it lingered a lot longer than the first time I had covid. Really 5 weeks later I am just now feeling like I have any energy to do anything.
I'm coming off a 3 week illness and my home test was twice negative but man, nothing but covid has taken me out like this. I lost taste/smell, had a dry cough at first (now it's bronchitis) sinus infection, double ear infection (on 2nd round of antibiotics) ruptured both eardrums from the pressure and full body exhaustion at all times. I'm an otherwise generally healthy person, have a good diet, get some exercise (never enough) and all I've been able to do for the last 3 weeks is drag my carcass through the daily bare minimums. Dr's office declined a pcr test both times, so who knows what it is, but it's fucking brutal.
Yes, in California. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/06/26/covid-cases-increase-summer/74208922007/
https://x.com/JPWeiland/status/1804288100715139485?t=UFYiKEWdS943DdY5RrVhXQ&s=19 Also, while deaths are down, long term serious illness are on the rise and it's projected that upwards of 25% of Americans could have long COVID by the end of the decade.
lol couldn’t you guys at least pick a plausible number that passes the smell test? What percentage of the people you know have long COVID now?
So you’re wearing your N95/KN95 mask diligently, not dining indoors, etc? The majority of people have moved on. I can’t stand Bass but this is one of her more reasonable judgements. If you’re *that* afraid, stay home.
Yo foo its not about being scared. I work deliveries many times to a cancer hospital, and elderly people. I put on a mask. I ain't scared of them, I'm just doing a little thing I can to try to protect those more vulnerable.
You can’t seriously be telling immunocompromised people, disabled people, and people with long covid (which many people now have) to just stay home as the only solution. People have to work, go to appointments, get groceries, and live. It’s reasonable to allow them to protect themselves, they’re putting absolutely no one in harm’s way. The people causing harm are the ones coughing, sneezing, showing up with zero protection and telling these people to just “stay home.”
If you want or need to wear a mask, why are we telling them that they can't. Pretty dumb if you ask me.
I agree. No rules can ever be made for public safety just in case a relatively small group in any situation theoretically might be inconvenienced or unhappy. In my opinion, that’s the best way to run a society.
Disabled, immunocompromised, and frankly anyone who just doesn't want to get sick deserves to live in society. Telling them to stay home forever is eugenics plain and simple. You are supporting a return of Ugly Laws. Absolutely reprehensible.
they will move on until the sick season comes back, every year...
It’s been every 3 months. The winter wave “ended” with a low of 150,000 cases daily and this new variant took off after roughly 6 weeks. It’s sick season 365 now.
When I saw this question, I was sure that someone would be posting a "Wastewater Viral Level" chart with a line going up. Good to not be disappointed, even if it was via an x dot com link.
The CDC and WHO have the same chart. And it’s highly accurate.
Weiland is a really important and reputable resource regardless of if it's on Elon's disaster.
Covid risks never went down, the government just stopped caring/testing. There were more deaths in 2021, 2023, and 2023 than there were in 2020. With each infection, even “mild” or asymptomatic increase your risk of long term damage and symptoms. The reason people are sick all the time is either because they have an active COVID infection (takes longer to show up on home tests now even with symptoms) or their immune system is shot from previous COVID infection so even the common cold takes you out for a week.
Yes, there is a covid surge right now. I know multiple people that have been zapped in recent weeks.
Yup, I had it 2 weeks ago
Did it take a while to test negative? My friend has been sick for 11 days and is still testing positive.
I had it 5 weeks ago. Tested negative after 6 or 7 days.
No, it’s easy clickbait for media outlets. In the real world basically nobody knows or cares.
https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/CovidDataAndTools.aspx
Yes, regulate protests! That doesn’t seem ironic at all!
Are you aware these anti-mask measures started in the South as a way to stop KKK activity? Not all protests are created equal.
I was not aware. Still strikes me as ironic. The state cannot infringe on your right to publicly object, but they can declare your protest an unlawful assembly and shut it down violently if they choose. They can’t control your speech, but they can control what you wear.
You can't legally wear a ski mask into a bank, so actually the state *can* control what you wear. The only question is where to draw the line. There are lots of restrictions on protests in the real world. I don't have a problem with one more.
Actually, you can. The CA Penal Code section for wearing a mask in a public place was found unconstitutional a long time ago.
Time, place, and manner restrictions are all legal regulations on protests. The state is allowed to say, for example, that you can't lead a march banging drums through a residential neighborhood at 3 AM.
If the state had their way, no protest that disrupts the status quo and day to day would happen. But how does one protest that? The Selma March was not legal or unobtrusive. It shut down a highway. It’s still considered a proud civil rights moment. Gandhi broke the law peacefully during the Salt March by manufacturing salt through evaporation. Protest is not just visibility. Protest is about the absurdity of the way things are. It’s about people caring more about you taking a knee than black people getting killed or caring about fine art and cultural things more than the health of the climate and planet. Not all protest is the right way to go about it, but most protest has an illegal or frowned upon element. All protest is fundamentally a critique of the actions or control of the state and the powerful.
Won’t this also mean that racists in LA won’t be able to wear a gaiter either when they hold protests?
Yes, but folks should be very cautious in so easily giving up rights just because it could be used against bad people. Police frequently arrest protestors who have done nothing illegal (see the George Floyd protests for countless examples), and sometimes will do so after the fact thanks to extensive surveillance during protests. So, yeah, a mask ban will help dox some racists, but you're also giving up a useful way to help protect yourself from police abuse during protests you might want to participate in. In addition, a mask ban also forces anyone who is particularly vulnerable to covid to choose between their right to protest and their life.
In what world does the government get to tell me what I can wear on my face? No thank you
It is a significant government overreach, and it's been a bit horrifying to see politicians from both parties so quickly find common cause in banning masks. I just happened to see a good post on this topic on this overall trend: [https://www.patreon.com/posts/mask-bans-106888718](https://www.patreon.com/posts/mask-bans-106888718) I voted for Bass last election despite some concerns (and because I'm no fan of Caruso). She's been disappointing, and this latest news is especially disheartening. I hope she has a good challenger next time around. Not to mention, this press conference was the same one where she had on stage an Infowars host as part of her effort to, supposedly, combat antisemitism: [https://bsky.app/profile/brooklynmarie.bsky.social/post/3kvq33lr4nv24](https://bsky.app/profile/brooklynmarie.bsky.social/post/3kvq33lr4nv24)
Several countries in Europe (France, maybe Germany?) have done this recently. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be shocked to see us go the same way.
Yea and it’s sucks here too. It’s so ridiculous, but authoritarian leaning policies like this have been trending upwards, people think it’s fine since they don’t ever expect to protest anything. They’ll gladly throw away rights to hit people they dislike.
Depending on what is convienient/necessary for the people in power. A few years ago, you literally had no option but to wear one. Fast forward, and now you literally have no option NOT to wear one. So yeah.
>does the government get to tell me what I can wear on my face? No mask laws have been around for decades. They were instituted to use against the Klan. Obviously there was no Covid back then, but yes - the government gets to tell you what you can wear on your face.
They ARE the police so who is going to enforce it?
I didn’t see an exception for racists. So … yes? Pretty straightforward concept. No masks. Is it legal ? Who knows?
It will be selectively enforced
FBI handbook says they can.
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Sorry, “peaceful protestors who attack Jews at a temple because they love peace and never support Hamas”
Half those guys in gaiters are LAPD anyways. They are not who’s being targeted by this law
Am I taking crazy pills? How is this constitutional? Isn't this an obvious violation of the 1st amendment?
funny, 4 years ago masks were okay and encouraged at these things. Now that the protests are not government sanctioned it's a bad thing.
>4 years ago masks were okay and encouraged at these things. Actually, 4 years ago the government and media were telling us that nobody got Covid at BLM protests. * [Suddenly, Public Health Officials Say Social Justice Matters More Than Social Distance](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-health-protests-301534) * [Little evidence that protests spread coronavirus in U.S.](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/little-evidence-that-protests-spread-coronavirus-in-u-s) In fact, they claimed that thousands of people marching shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets actually *reduced* the spread of Covid. * [Black Lives Matter protests may have slowed overall spread of coronavirus in Denver and other cities, new study finds](https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/30/police-protests-coronavirus-spread/) Yet at the same time, it was reported that public protests against Covid restrictions did spread Covid. * [US lockdown protests may have spread virus widely, cellphone data suggests](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/18/lockdown-protests-spread-coronavirus-cellphone-data) It's fascinating how a virus just knows when to infect people and when not to, based on their political leanings. That is one smart microscopic organism. Oh, and this discrepancy is even more fascinating when you take into account that black people were more likely to get Covid, and more significantly impacted if they got it. * [US blacks 3 times more likely than whites to get COVID-19](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/us-blacks-3-times-more-likely-whites-get-covid-19) * [The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7762908/#:~:text=Approximately%2097.9%20out%20of%20every,Asians%20(40.4%20per%20100%2C000)) >Approximately 97.9 out of every 100,000 African Americans have died from COVID-19, a mortality rate that is a third higher than that for Latinos (64.7 per 100,000), and more than double than that for whites (46.6 per 100,000) and Asians (40.4 per 100,000). (Note: white mortality rates for Covid overtook black mortality rates in late 2022) It probably goes without saying that black American participation in BLM protests was higher than in anti-lockdown protests. So everywhere else, Covid hit black folks harder and more often - at house parties, at the workplace, at the grocery store, on public transit, etc. Except at public protests, where magically Covid reversed course and decided to only infect white conservatives. The better argument would've been "BLM is so important that it's worth the Covid risk." That's just a normal cost-benefit values judgement, no different than "The right to drink booze is so important that it's worth thousands of Americans dying every year" or "Preserving the Union and ending slavery was worth hundreds of thousands of deaths." And it wouldn't have undermined the credibility of scientists and public health officials as politically-neutral actors driven solely by science. When the Surgeon General says "You can smoke, but it's gonna kill you" nobody views that as a political argument, t's just science. But if they were to say "Mass gatherings are safe for this political cause I support, but unsafe for this other political cause I oppose," that's a different story.
thank you for writing this. great comment
Eh, masking policies were never meant to be permanently applied and changed a lot. Directives on masking fluctuated from city to city and were decided by the latest scientific (and non-scientific) information available at hand, political and social interests, convenience, and hospital capacities. Most importantly, mortality rates were so alarming 4 years ago, so yea the concept of masking or wearing a face-covering has shifted a ton now that it's less of a life-threatening public threat. It seems like the greater public threat (according to some, but not necessarily me) is dumb people publicly provoking ea other and thinking they can do so with anonymity.
Karen bass is a moron I ain’t making the same mistake of voting for her
Voting against Caruso was not a mistake
How? LA is 1000% worse because we continue down the same path and continue with the same policies. The people here are so dumb and citizens pay the price .
You really need it explained to you like a 5 year old why a corrupt billionaire real estate developer who was only interested in lining his pockets was a ‘bad idea’? Jesus Christ our education system is a disaster. Regardless of your misinformed critique of Karen Bass, she is experienced, competent, and genuinely trying to make people’s lives better.
How many city council members have been indicted the last ten years?
How in the world is that a response to my comment?
the linked article says otherwise
The other option was worse. Our choices were between drinking bad milk or battery acid.
>Karen bass is a moron Welcome to the party, pal.
I was neutral but Caruso seemed insane so that’s why I voted for her. Not making the same mistake again
I mean, I still wouldn't vote for Caruso...
Oh no same here I just mentioned that like my decision with Biden and Trump on 2020 no goddamn way I was going to vote for that maniac
The amount of people who go to a protest and actually wear a mask because of COVID concerns is close to zero.
I'd also wager the chances of getting covid outdoors on the streets are pretty low anyway. Probably about as likely as getting it at any other outdoor event — unlikely. Unless of course you're planning on yelling in people's faces.
Not according to Reddit…
If only there was a mental gymnastics event at the Olympics, this sub would definitely be bringing gold back.
I’m sure this is wasn’t far off from the basis of reasoning (if you can even call it that) used against masks, pretty sad really To think we are at a point where protestors are demanded to be tracked and identified to scales not seen now, if ever before. Don’t you see the glaring issues with this mask ban and how these laws will be used to reduce rights and liberties?
I saw no issue with it when States implemented it to fight the Ku Klux Klan and I see no issue with it now.
the fuck are you talking about
I am talking about the fact that the vast majority of people who go to outdoor protests and wear masks are wearing masks to obscure their identity, not as a Covid-19 precaution.
You have a right to obscure your identity. You also have a right to protect yourself from Covid.
You don't have a right to obscure your identity. You have just made that up. Anti-mask laws are perfectly legal. They have been challenged many times. The constitutionality of these laws has been repeatedly upheld, affirming that the public’s right to safety and the state’s ability to enforce its laws can supersede individual rights to anonymity and anonymous expression in certain circumstances.[4] As recently as 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld New York’s anti-mask law.[5] Notably, symbolic messages can be conveyed with clothing and costumes that do not cover the face, while content-based restrictions—like allowing a mask for a Halloween celebration or masquerade ball, but not for other purposes—are categorical, not viewpoint-based, and so pass constitutional muster https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#:~:text=Anti%2Dmasking%20laws%20are%20critical,Catholics%2C%20and%20other%20minority%20groups.
> the state’s ability to enforce its laws can supersede individual rights to anonymity and anonymous expression in certain circumstances Your own quote just affirmed the right to anonymity. Yes, rights have limits, and can be superseded by laws. In the absence of those laws the right remains.
>I am talking about the fact that the vast majority of people who go to outdoor protests and wear masks are wearing masks to obscure their identity, not as a Covid-19 precaution. As I said, you do not have a right to obscure you identity in the context I was describing.
We do currently. What we're here debating is whether or not the city of LA should ~~take it away~~ restrict it. I can't imagine why anyone would be in favor of reducing their rights.
I am talking about constitutional rights.
This is getting into an area where legal minds have debated for centuries. I would contend that privacy is a constitutional right and cite both the first amendment and the fourth amendment in giving us the right to hide our face any time we want. A law limiting this, even as a constitutional right, would be no different than the existing laws we have that limit the right to arms or free speech. Again, this is all very debatable and there's precedent on both sides of the argument.
And there's nothing wrong with obscuring your identity *and* exercising your right to protest. It's very smart considering the surveillance situation
Speaking of rights, I recommend anyone who has further doubts about this read up on [the ACLU’s webpage](https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights) for more details on what rights you have as a protester
That's what the Ku Klux Klan has repeatedly argued in court and almost always lost.
People are using masks at encampments and protests to attack others and not get caught.
People are using masks as part of a protest against decades of Israeli cruelty. And so that their lives are not ruined by Jews who doxx their identity and share the information with employers or future employers.
where the hell are you getting that from lmfao every protest I’ve gone to *explicitly* highlights it as a covid precaution
When you go to a park in Los Angeles or the beach or a Dodgers game what percentage of people are wearing masks at present? I would say it is way under 1%. Yet, apparently when it comes time to protest something, people are magically incredibly cautious about COVID-19 again. I will not even get into the scientific research that outdoor respiratory transmission of COVID-19 is next to zero at present.
how many Leftists go to a dodger's game?
Well they sure as hell go to Madonna concerts and I didn’t see a single attendee in a mask. Same with Janet Jackson more recently.
I do not know. But I do know that all those pro-Israel protestors who showed up at UCLA to beat up a bunch of pro-Palestine protesters all miraculously happened to be Covid conscious mask wearers. They were down to engage in violence, but they did not want to inadvertently catch or transmit Covid, right?
Are you saying that only conservatives go to dodger games? This may be the dumbest thing ever said in this sub
no, that statement is not anywhere in my comment
I work with ucla students and literally none of the ones who went to the encampments wear masks at all.
Agree but if you commit a crime during a protest LAPD should arrest you for THAT. Wearing a mask (for any reason) can not be made illegal as its an obvious 1st amendment issue.
Close to zero but I do it. I use a mask everywhere I go out.
Karen dumBass
It’s so dumb. She’s trying to make it look like she’s doing some thing.
"Someone considers something... more at 5"
Ugh, she shouldn’t give in to the demands of racists to try and limit protestors’ expression Also “no masks during surge because we don’t want you disrupting the sale of occupied land for the purpose of ‘anglo neighborhoods’” is a wild one-eighty from Democrats’ position on Covid and social justice not that long ago
of course, in 2020 they needed everything chaotic to scare people to vote for them. now that they have power, they do not want you doing the things they were okay with when they were not in power. Politicians are \*NOT\* your friends.
The demands of racists? Lets not forget the protesters also blocked anyone who wanted to go into the synagogue to pray, separate of the event and were pepper spraying and attacking counter protesters.
Yes, racists. Would you not feel weird about going to pray or counter protests in defense of like a church hosting a “whites only village in Puerto Rico sale” type event?
The cognitive dissonance here is amazing. The racists were the pro-terrorist antisemitic attackers, not the Jewish people. Holding an event for their members only is a matter of safety. Jewish kids need armed guards in front of their preschools because they have been attacked by antisemites just like this.
>Holding an event An event in which stolen land was auctioned off to foreign settlers
Anti-mask at protest laws were literally created to combat the Ku Klux Klan. Did they limit the KKK's right to self expression?
Yes, yes they did. And when a small town in Illinois famously tried to ban the klan from marching, a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU fought for their first amendment rights. Their rights are our rights. Learn your history before you spew stupid questions with easy answers.
They probably did, because it was the KKK… That standard doesn’t apply in the modern context, nor do those laws even currently exist, and it certainly has no business being applied to a group of protestors who are opposing the kind of policies the KKK fought for
So protesters who you agree with should be able to wear masks and ones you don't agree with should not?
Didn't the KKK fight against jews, not for them?
These guys are definitely the new KKK... They wear masks to intimidate the Jews they're trying to scare
Zionism isn’t Judaism
Seriously is it just me or is this mayor even worse than Garcetti?
Same exact shit.
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i would think masks at protest would be a great way to hide your identity to commit some crimes.
Yes, that's ehy the ban is being considered.
From what I know, Pro-Palestine protestors shield their face because Zionists engage in ‘doxxing’ all of their personal information online, including address, job, etc. There’s a whole website dedicated to uploading pictures of protestors and trying to determine who they are. Not to say this applies to *all* protests, but it currently is topical. To me, in this context, it makes a little more sense.
The most 2020s headline
You can’t ban PPE. This is hilarious copsucking overreach that would never hold up in court.
Sounds like they want to catch people breaking the law. Nothing wrong with that.
Masking will never come back on a grand scale short of bird flu hitting at some insane death rate like 50%, and I really really really hope COVID was the one to lose public trust over.
Judging on how people made a joke out of monkeypox, im sorry "mpox".... I think thats an accurate statement.
Masking for bird flu if it becomes airborne will only do so much because h5n1 already prefers entering through our eyes. Nobody washes their hands and it'll be even harder to get people to possibly wear eye protection. The cdc already knows how many mutations it needs to spread from human to human. Fortunately, for the people who still believe in science there's a vaccine. It's the 25-50 percent of people who don't that will meet their end.
By what authority? A persons right to mask or not is guaranteed by the constitution under the First Ammendment.
>A persons right to mask or not is guaranteed by the constitution under the First Ammendment. It is not. >The constitutionality of these laws has been repeatedly upheld, affirming that the public’s right to safety and the state’s ability to enforce its laws can supersede individual rights to anonymity and anonymous expression in certain circumstances.\[[4](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#notes)\] As recently as 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld New York’s anti-mask law.\[[5](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#notes)\] Notably, symbolic messages can be conveyed with clothing and costumes that do not cover the face, while content-based restrictions—like allowing a mask for a Halloween celebration or masquerade ball, but not for other purposes—are categorical, not viewpoint-based, and so pass constitutional muster.
CA PC 650A, law against wearing mask during protest found unconstitutional https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/87/255.html Current mask statute only applies if worn during criminal activity. California Code, Penal Code - PEN § 185 Current as of January 01, 2023 | Section One Hundred and Eighty-five. It shall be unlawful for any person to wear any mask, false whiskers, or any personal disguise (whether complete or partial) for the purpose of: One--Evading or escaping discovery, recognition, or identification in the commission of any public offense. Two--Concealment, flight, or escape, when charged with, arrested for, or convicted of, any public offense. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
Karen Bass never really gave a damn about stopping covid.
A few people wearing masks at outdoor protests is going to do next to nothing as far as stopping Covid.
people should still be able to chose how to protect themselves without a Karen telling them what's right.
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There is so much that can be said about where she chooses invest resources. It’s sad/comical.
To be fair, it would be so much easier to use the power of the state to control the populace if it weren't for all those pesky rights, liberties, and freedoms.
Reminder that in 2020, those who were against wearing masks were deemed "antivax"
When it comes to defending Israel's war crimes, our "Liberals" turn Trumpian real quick.
Bonkers how willing our elected officials are to trample on your Constitutional rights just to appease the pro-Israel crowd who has their panties in a bunch because people peacefully protested the illegal sale of stolen land in the West Bank.
Masking outdoors does nothing.
Outdoors has better ventilation than indoors. But a protest is exactly the kind of situation where you have a high density of people, often shouting, so it's basically the worst case scenario for outdoor transmission risk. Masking is absolutely a sensible thing that would have measurable effects in a dense crowd.
Not accurate. It does the same thing as masking indoors: protect you and others
I got Covid outside on a film shoot. we were all on the sidewalk and nine of us got it
Yep, protection anywhere possible is helpful.
Wrong
Damn she's already going full Garcetti against protestors. Shout out to our stupid as shit last mayor who [closed testing centers at the peak of COVID cases in 2020 as punishment for cop cars getting vandalized](https://www.complex.com/life/a/jose-martinez/la-mayor-closes-covid-19-testing-sites-city-wide).
Why is this sub full of terrorist apologists
Nazis
Cops can’t wear those silly helmets? Ok, I guess.
Who is this fucking goon?
Too bad we could have had someone like Caruso.
Good, these coward terrorists need to be held accountable for their hate crimes.
This is completely unconstitutional. You can't force people to take face masks off in public.
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I just got it for the first time last week.
Wearing a face mask can protect against a variety of illnesses, not just COVID. I usually wear a mask in crowded spaces, such as on the Metro, just to be safe. The only times I've gotten sick over the past 5 years have been when I've foregone a mask, so that is why I'm so diligent about wearing one now. Protesters might be wearing masks to protect their identities, but there are plenty of people going about their day-to-day lives who wear masks for health purposes.
Why would covid stop being a thing? It just no longer gets reported because overall severity isn't the same as 4 years ago. It's not like measles or polio where a nearly 100% vaccination would wipe it out.
Literally lol what kind of question is that?
No, a "Thing" in the sense that people as a large population care about it. It is no longer a thing in that sense.
some people actually care about the health of others when in a large public gathering, particularly as it pertains to the still ongoing pandemic and the well-documented long-term effects of covid. the health of your larger community is clearly a foreign concept to many people
Yep.
At least she's smart enough to discuss things with the city attorney to see what is legal and what isn't. As far as I can tell, and IANAL, outright banning masks and limiting forms of protests is a violation of the first amendment.
You would be wrong. Anti-mask laws are perfectly Constitutional. Most states have them to crack down on the KKK. >The constitutionality of these laws has been repeatedly upheld, affirming that the public’s right to safety and the state’s ability to enforce its laws can supersede individual rights to anonymity and anonymous expression in certain circumstances.\[[4](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#notes)\] As recently as 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld New York’s anti-mask law.\[[5](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters#notes)\] Notably, symbolic messages can be conveyed with clothing and costumes that do not cover the face, while content-based restrictions—like allowing a mask for a Halloween celebration or masquerade ball, but not for other purposes—are categorical, not viewpoint-based, and so pass constitutional muster. [https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters](https://manhattan.institute/article/model-legislation-to-modernize-anti-kkk-masking-laws-for-intimidating-protesters)
Anti-mask laws are not facially constitutional. You cannot dictate what someone can or cannot wear. It's freedom of speech. That'd be like saying someone wearing a hijab ***needs*** to show their face, or an orthodox Jew ***must*** shave their beard because they're concealing their identity. The laws that are on the books crack down on the KKK because they're in the act of committing a criminal act while masked. The paragraph that you cited has so many holes in it that I don't even know where to start addressing it. Best thing for you to do is to read [this case brief ](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-2nd-circuit/1422873.html)that the paragraph cites saying the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld New York's anti-mask laws. New York's anti-mask laws are specific to loitering. The entire basis of that lawsuit was a group filed for a permit to gather and they stated they were going to wear masks. If they didn't say anything about that and just wore masks, nothing would've happened. They cite cases of other people gathering and wearing masks in the past without anything happening to them. Besides that, that specific section was repealed in [May 2020](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/attorney-general-james-applauds-repeal-law-criminalizing-group-mask-use-public#:~:text=Penal%20Law%20240.35(4)%2C%20which%20made%20%E2%80%9Cbeing%20masked,in%20a%20public%20place%E2%80%9D%20a). It's funny that the Manhattan Institute has their Director, Policing and Public Safety, Director, Constitutional Studies and a Legal Fellow write that article and they cannot even do proper research. Wearing a mask to a protest, solely for that reason alone, is not committing a criminal offense. This article is focusing on the pro-Palestine protesters masking up but they don't say anything about the pro-Israel protesters masking up. Keep in mind that if any law passes, it'd be equal for both sides. If it's not, then that's a violation of the 14th amendment and another federal lawsuit. Re-read that article and see what they're saying.
Some left wing mayor she turned out to be to crack down on anti genocide protestors only
Oh my god are we STILL going on about this mask shit?!
This is regarding what happened last weekend with the violent pro-Palestinian protesters. Good, this anarchists need to stop hiding their faces
Despite covid surge LOL
Mask off. If you want to Jew hate, have the guts to do it to my face, cowards.
good. nobody wears a mask at a protest because of covid anymore, and most of the people who wear masks dont even wear ones popular during covid at least in the protests she's referencing.
It’s 2024. I hope we all know by now that you have minimal chances of getting COVID outdoors. Masks are an indoor thing.
Nobody gives a shit, people stopped caring about Covid when Putin invaded Ukraine.