A mask mandate protest ended with the police called after violence erupted between security guards and protesters, CBS Los Angeles reports. Problems began when a man was dragged out of the establishment by seven security guards reportedly for refusing to wear his mask. Some onlookers shouted “brutality” as he was dragged on the ground against his will. The protest took place at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in Anaheim. The reason for that particular spot for the protest is unclear. However, the police were called after reports of pepper spray being used. CBS Los Angeles reports no one was arrested or hurt. However, questions remain.
The protest came after some parts of California reinstituted scientifically dubious mask mandates as a response to a spike in COVID cases. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and other counties all have mask mandates, and CBS Los Angeles also reports much of the Bay Area has required mask mandates as well. However, the state government of California officially disbanded their statewide mask mandate in June, but they left in place the possibility for most counties to implement their own mask mandates.
However, the county where the protest took place, Orange County, does not require masks. The location of the store was at 2110 S. Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim, California. Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles is a California chain with locations in seven areas across the state, including one in Hollywood, California, where the franchise got its start.
One county-wide population study in Texas’s heavily populated Bexar County found masks were ineffective at slowing the spread of COVID-19. The peer-reviewed study, published in The Southern Medical Journal, concluded that “there was no reduction in per-population daily mortality, hospital bed, ICU bed, or ventilator occupancy of COVID-19-positive patients attributable to the implementation of a mask-wearing mandate.”
However, that hasn’t stopped California’s public health officials from claiming masks are effective at stopping the spread of COVID-19. According to Los Angeles’s Public Health Department, “If you aren’t fully vaccinated, your mask is one of the most powerful tools you have to protect yourself and other unvaccinated people. This is especially true when you are in an indoor or crowded outdoor space.” However, this statement is based on an outdated and now disbanded theory that COVID-19 spreads mainly through spittle and launched water droplets.
Dr. Lisa Brosseau and Dr. Margaret Sietsema, two researchers who specialize in infectious diseases and respiratory infection stated “There is no scientific evidence” that “cloth or surgical masks” are “are effective in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.” Additionally, Tamara van Ark, a public minister for The Netherlands, one of the countries lauded for their handling of COVID-19, stated “from a medical perspective there is no proven effectiveness of masks.” It was on that basis that The Netherlands did not enact universal mask mandates.
However, masks are not the only cause for protest during the COVID-19 era. Biden’s recent vaccine mandate for every organization with more than 100 employees has caused hundreds of nurses nationwide to either quit their jobs or protest. And multiple vaccine mandate protests have sprouted up ever since. Most recently, a hospital in New York had to announce they were unable to deliver babies due to the nursing shortage from the vaccine mandates.
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–By CNJ contributor John S. Paluska