Two stories from the Lexington Herald-Leader, both dated today:

Most Kentucky schools are making masks optional, even as COVID-19 surges. Here’s why.

By Alex Acquisto | August 10, 2021 | 12:48 PM

In a cramped room with members of the Harlan County Public Schools Board of Education, Darla Heflin steadied herself behind a microphone.

“I’ll be very quick,” Heflin told the listening board and Superintendent Brent Roark on July 27. “We do believe that masks pose physical, mental and emotional distress on our students and on our children.”

Heflin explained that her son, a rising eighth-grader, asked to be picked up from school twice last year because wearing a mask plagued him with headaches, dizziness and nausea. “He’s not used to wearing them,” she said. “We don’t make him wear them outside of school. I’m here believing that you all will vote to make them optional. We do not want masks to be mandatory for our students.”

She then lobbed a veiled threat that many K-12 superintendents have become familiar with as districts across Kentucky weigh whether to require universal masking in the 2021-2022 school year: “I know a lot of parents agree with this: we do not want to take our children out of school,” Heflin said. “I represent, I think, more parents than I realize.”

The board members listened and asked no questions of Heflin once she finished. Less than an hour later, Superintendent Roark, who leads this Eastern Kentucky district of roughly 3,800 students, detailed why he had toiled over the decision.

And here’s the money paragraph:

Last year, when Gov. Andy Beshear instituted a statewide mask mandate, “it was a fight the whole time to try and do it,” Roark admitted. This year, “Our plan includes a balance of parent and family choice, mitigation efforts and maximum social distancing with a focus on in-person instruction.”

It’s simple: Kentuckians are, if not Libertarians, libertarians, people who believe in, and are fiercely protective of, individual rights. Governor Beshear’s mask mandates did not go over well at all. During the 2020 election campaigns, Republican candidates for the state legislature ran against Mr Beshear’s executive orders, and the voters of the Commonwealth rewarded them with 14 additional seats in the state House of Representatives, for an overwhelming 75-25 margin, and 2 additional seats, out of 17 up for election, in the state Senate, for a 30-8 GOP advantage. That’s about as strong a statement of the voters’ opinions as you could ever see.

But, alas! the Governor was beside himself when many school districts did not follow his recommendations:

‘Absolutely alarming.’ Beshear mandates masks in schools as COVID-19 explodes in KY.

By Alex Acquisto | August 10, 2021 | 5:22 PM

Citing exponential growth of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across Kentucky, K-12 schools are now required to enforce universal masking among students and staff, Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Tuesday, as he reported 2,500 new cases — the most reported in a single day since early January.

Beshear announced he will sign an executive order Tuesday requiring all teachers, staff and students in K-12 schools, child care and pre-Kindergarten programs across Kentucky to wear a mask indoors. His executive order applies for 30 days and leaves open the indefinite possibility for renewal.

“We are to the point where we cannot allow our kids to go into these buildings unprotected, unvaccinated and face this Delta variant,” he said Tuesday in the state Capitol. “There is no other option. This is absolutely what we have to do.”

There’s more at the original.

Of course, Mr Beshear followed it with a threat:

Beshear again begged the roughly 48% of Kentuckians who are not yet vaccinated to get their shot, noting that a statewide mask mandate is not off the table if COVID-19 trends continue accelerating.

“You’re the cause,” he said. “Please fix it. Get the shot.”

Even if every Kentuckian who is not vaccinated ran out to get the shot, we wouldn’t see results of that anytime soon. The two main vaccines, the Pfizer and the Moderna, require a second shot, at least three weeks later for the Pfizer and four for Moderna. “Fully vaccinated” has been defined as two weeks after your second dose of the vaccine, which means five weeks after Pfizer, and six after Moderna.

I speculated, four days ago, that Governor Beshear already knows that the state Supreme Court is not going to rule in his favor in his attempts to have several restrictions on his ’emergency’ powers under KRS 39A declared unconstitutional, in that he was asking companies in the Bluegrass State to impose vaccine mandates on their employees, but Alex Acquisto reported that many nursing homes in the Commonwealth fear that they would lose significant numbers of staff were they to impose such a mandate.

“I think we would lose the majority of our staff. We only have 46% that are vaccinated and the rest adamantly refuse,” one administrator wrote in a survey response. Only responses, not locations of responding facilities, were provided to the Herald-Leader. Another cited a high “potential to lose members, especially nurses, when there are few replacement opportunities in my area.”

Others cited rampant misinformation about the vaccine and the likelihood of mass resignations. “Younger staff have expressed overwhelming concern about the unknown long-term effects, even with massive amounts of education about the vaccine,” one administrator wrote.

Perhaps, just perhaps, a lot of people really don’t trust what the government is telling them.

Mr Beshear is counting on places like Kroger, the biggest grocery store chain in Kentucky, to do his dirty work for him:

Cincinnati-based Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery store chain, recently updated its store mask policy after new recommendations from the CDC in the wake of the surge in Delta variant coronavirus cases.

Customers who are unvaccinated are requested to wear masks and even those who have been fully vaccinated are “strongly encouraged” to wear a mask in the stores.

Employees who are unvaccinated are required to wear masks, Kroger said in the recent statement. The company also said it would continue to abide by all state and local mask mandates and will encourage vaccinations.

“We will continue to implement enhanced cleaning and physical distancing across all facilities as well as offer associates a $100 one-time payment for receiving the recommended doses of the COVID-19 vaccine,” Kroger said. “We also encourage customers to visit www.kroger.com/covidvaccine to make an appointment. Many pharmacies are also accepting walk-in appointments for added convenience.”

If the Governor can persuade Kroger to impose a mask requirement for shopping there, it will put a serious crimp on our freedom, but Kroger is a private company, and can impose restrictions on who enters its property.

Fortunately, at least at the Bypass Road, Richmond, Kroger store, there were no signs at the entrances either requiring or requesting customers to be masked, as of today, and, just at a cursory glance, no more than 5% of the customers were wearing masks, as is, and ought to be, their choice.

The executive order is probably legal for public schools, in that the state is responsible for them. However, Mr Beshear included private schools as well, for which the order should not be legal.