Gov. Gavin Newsom apparently believes he can pick and choose which rights you are allowed to exercise under his draconian COVID-19 restrictions. Not only do they make absolutely no sense, but the state is also deciding what rights take precedence over others.
California has a mask mandate. Yet they have decided to allow residents not to wear masks at polling places during the election:
Exceptions to the state’s mask mandate will be allowed to both ensure that every eligible voter who wants to cast their ballot is able to do so and to avoid confrontations at polling locations, according to the guidelines that the Los Angeles Times drew attention to in a report on Tuesday.
“Election workers must not turn a voter away for lack of face covering. The right to vote takes precedence,” the guidelines said. Extra physical distancing may be needed to heighten safety measures, the guidelines added, but “confrontation is not advisable. Among other considerations, intense conversation and shouting increase the volume of exhalations and may increase risk.”
It seems the right to vote and the right to protest and riot take precedence over COVID-19 restrictions in California. Really, everything the political left approves of is allowed most of the time, and you will never hear the corporate media criticize the blatant hypocrisy largely because they agree.
However, the state will absolutely limit your right to associate freely, especially on holidays. Maybe if you put a protest sign on your front door this Thanksgiving, you can do as you please. The restrictions for gatherings have no basis in science and seem deliberately constructed to ruin your holiday meal.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) defines a gathering as social situations that bring people together from different households. If you will host one to eat a turkey and generally stuff yourself, you better not include people from more than two other households because COVID-19 will know if you do and surely infect everyone.
All gatherings must also be held outside. And you must have 6 feet of distance between members of different households. There is no dining table in the world big enough to do this, so I guess you can go to Walmart, grab a few more kiddie tables, and spread them around your yard. Then you can yell across the space to converse.
Wait. When you get down to bullet number seven, yelling is not an option. They also don’t want you singing, chanting, or exerting yourself physically. Apparently, no one at the CDPH has ever prepared or served a Thanksgiving dinner, as you generally feel as if a nap is in order by the time the bird hits the table. Since you can’t shout to your socially distanced guests, it appears that you should just talk to those from your household.
And forget about seeing Great Aunt Bea. She is strongly discouraged from attending. You can drop off a Stouffer’s turkey dinner and an iPad for her. Then she can pop it in the microwave and join your gathering via Facetime. Happy holidays and you will just have to hope she leaves her famous sweet potato casserole on the porch when you drop off her supplies, or you will just go without.
The new centerpiece is a big jug of hand sanitizer, a bottle for each table, please. Disposable dinnerware is also required. And no passing the plates between tables unless the host or hostess sanitizes their hands between each table. All participants must wear a mask and keep it on between bites. This circus must all be accomplished within two hours, or you and your guests will turn into COVID-riddled pumpkins.
Nothing about these guidelines is based on science. The more you touch your mask to remove and replace it between bites, the more useless it becomes. The CDC defines the risk of exposure to the virus as 15 minutes of close contact. The arbitrary two hours is just ridiculous. According to the CDC, surface transmission, such as passing plates, is not thought to be a likely transmission route.
About the only guideline that makes sense says if you feel ill, don’t attend a gathering. Genius stuff right there. Comedian Adam Corolla probably has the best response to the news:
How many of you sheep are going along with Newsom’s Thanksgiving protocols ?
— Adam Carolla (@adamcarolla) October 21, 2020
To prove a point, all freedom-loving Californians should whip off your masks and go vote in person. Then pull the lever for Donald Trump and show these authoritarian knuckleheads you’re just not going to take it anymore.
