Officials in Oregon — one of the few states that still have a statewide indoor mask mandate, even for vaccinated individuals — are taking steps in order to make the mandate permanent.
Bureaucrats from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) last week convened a Rules Advisory Committee (RAC) in order to discuss the authoritarian move. The Rules Advisory Committee included community stakeholders from the Seventh Day Adventists, the High Desert Museum, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and a chain of brewpubs known as McMenamins.
But Oregonians shouldn’t worry too much; the medical director for communicable diseases and immunizations with OHA was quick to say that “permanent” didn’t really mean permanent.
“Permanent means indefinite. It doesn’t necessarily mean permanent,” said Dr. Paul Cieslak. “We can repeal it as well, but we are only allowed to have a temporary rule for 180 days, and anything that goes beyond 180 days, we cannot extend it.”
Oregon has been one of the state’s most reluctant to reopen amid COVID-19 in the United States. The state only lifted its mandate on mask wearing in outdoor public spaces on November 23. Oregon is one of only six states and the District of Columbia which require all individuals — including the vaccinated — to wear masks in indoor public spaces. The other states are Washington, New Mexico, Illinois, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia.
California, New York, and Connecticut also require masks to be worn indoors but vaccinated people are exempt from the rule.
Governor Kate Brown reinstituted the mandatory mask rules on August 13 in response to a surge of the delta variant of COVID-19. That mandate will end in February if left to die in peace. The new more “permanent” mandate could literally last for years if Oregonians allow it.
Some health experts have spoken out against mandatory mask-wearing in response to COVID-19.
“We may have a baseline rate of COVID cases hovering around where they are now in the Southeast forever,” Dr. Martin Makary of Johns Hopkins recently told Fox News. “We are entering an endemic phase and the question we need to ask as a society is, do we want a perpetual society with people masked?”
According to Makary, “ the marginal benefit of masking is diminishing as the prevalence declines. Also, in many instances we’re requiring masks of people at the absolute lowest risk and by insisting on throwing the kitchen sink at virus transmission we will have to pay the piper somehow.”
What price might that piper ask?
“That may come in the form of a loss of human connection, more increased mental health problems, and in children a series of problems including issues in development and speech development and other downsides,” Makary pointed out.
Others commented on the proposed mandate. Texas Representative Chip Roy tweeted sardonically, “Land of the free…”
Radio host Buck Sexton tweeted: “Permanent masking, folks. They’re doing all the things we told you they would from the beginning, because COVID has made the Left go completely insane.”
While Oregon’s far-left governor Kate Brown hasn’t said much publicly about the possibility of a permanent indoor mask mandate as of yet. It doesn’t mean that mask-wearing has become a non-issue for her. As a featured guest at the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s 30th anniversary gala in Washington, D.C. over the weekend, Brown was spotted mask-less at the event — the District of Columbia also has an indoor mask mandate.
So, while bureaucrats in her own state ponder a permanent indoor mask mandate, Brown openly flouts the rules of another jurisdiction. Talk about rules for thee but not for me.
The OHA is currently in the initial stages of making the indoor mask mandate permanent. Once the bureaucracy formally announces the impending change, there will be opportunities for the public to comment on the prospective rule change. Exactly when that opportunity will happen is yet to be determined but the OHA expects it to occur sometime in January.
It is incumbent upon freedom loving Oregonians to show up at these listening sessions and make their voices heard about this authoritarian measure set to be foisted upon them by bureaucrats.
It’s no wonder why so much of Eastern Oregon wishes to join Idaho. Sanity in the state seems to decrease the closer you get to the Pacific Ocean.
