It would be unfair to say that none of the 73,202 fans in attendance for Sunday’s NFC championship game wore masks. But looking through pictures of the crowd, it appears that, at best, 5% to 10% of those who watched the Los Angeles Rams defeat the San Francisco 49ers were wearing face coverings.
So it shouldn’t be too surprising that the Democratic Party royalty in attendance, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, were all photographed at the event not wearing masks.
It was good to see Democratic leaders embrace a return to normal life — if only they would do so consistently.
Newsom has put into force a statewide indoor mask mandate. Then, there’s LA County’s additional mask mandate for “outdoor mega events,” which requires masks for those attending events with over 5,000 people. You know — like the NFC championship game.
Newsom, Garcetti, Breed, and tens of thousands of fans all violated these mask mandates together, as did the players and coaches. There is no directive that exempts any of them either.
It would be one thing if Californians had formally decided that Newsom’s and Garcetti’s mask mandates were objectively silly and should be ignored.
But unfortunately, that is not what happened. Thousands of children throughout California who are not at risk from COVID will still be forced to wear masks for eight hours a day this week, right after tens of thousands of adults who are at risk from COVID got together and screamed their heads off for three hours with no face coverings at all.
None of this makes any logical or scientific sense. Not only are adults far more likely to suffer serious COVID cases but they are also far better at keeping the masks on properly so that they are efficacious. There is no scientifically sound evidence that school mask mandates reduce the spread of COVID.
The only reason schoolchildren are still forced to wear masks, when football fans are not, is that school children are powerless before the teachers unions that control California schools. Most adult football fans are free to ignore teachers unions, but California’s Democratic officeholders are owned by the unions. And unlike the rest of America, the unions are not willing to move on.
According to a new poll from Monmouth University, a full 70% of adults agree with the statement that “it’s time we accept that COVID is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives.” Those are the people that were all maskless at the football game Sunday. But while 89% of Republicans and 71% of independents agree with the statement above, only 47% of Democrats do. And therein lies the Democrats’ problem.
It wasn’t that long ago that President Joe Biden threatened Republican governors with “all of his oversight authorities and legal actions” if they tried “to block and intimidate educators protecting our children.” Now, we know that the school mask mandates Biden tried so desperately to politicize didn’t actually protect anyone. That’s what science tells us.
Former President Donald Trump gave the country three vaccines. They work. Everyone should use them. What has Biden done? Biden made solving COVID his signature issue in 2020, promising, “I will end this.” Biden hasn’t solved COVID. He has failed to “end this.”
Voters are ready to move on from Democrats’ failed and futile efforts to contain the virus through lockdowns and mask mandates.
Like the 73,202 in attendance at the game Sunday, they just want to move on with their lives, and that includes ending mask mandates for adults and children alike.
