Tag Archives: #MaskMandate

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Republican state agency heads tell Andy Beshear: not just no, but Hell no!

We noted yesterday Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) order that all employees and visitors to state buildings must wear face masks, even if they are fully vaccinated.

But Mr Beshear and his Lieutenant Governor, Jacqueline Coleman, are the only Democrats who serve in statewide elective offices, and that creates problems for enforcement of the Governor’s orders.

    Several KY state agencies run by Republicans won’t enforce Beshear’s new mask rules

    By Daniel Desrochers | July 29, 2021 10:56 AM | Updated: 12:06 PM EDT

    Several state agencies headed by Republicans say they will not enforce Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s mandate for all state workers to resume wearing masks while working inside, a potential sign of how contentious new orders to limit the spread of COVID-19 may become.

    Leaders of the Department of Agriculture, Office of the State Treasurer and Legislative Research Commission all said Thursday they will not enforce the new mask mandate, which comes as COVID-19 cases have surged over the past five weeks.

    In an email sent to the staff of the Department of Agriculture shortly after Beshear announced the new rule Wednesday, Keith Rogers, the chief of staff for Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, told employees the department would leave it up to staff members to decide if they want to wear a mask.

There’s more at the original.

Several state departments noted that the majority of their employees are already vaccinated, and will leave mask wearing optional. while the Legislative Research Commission, which is supervised by the General Assembly, not the Governor, will adhere to its May 23rd policy, which states that vaccinated employees need not wear masks.

We have previously mentioned Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) dictatorial orders, and his refusal to involve the General Assembly.

    Beshear was asked at Friday’s (July 10, 2020 — Editor) news conference on COVID-19 why he has not included the legislature in coming up with his orders. He said many state lawmakers refuse to wear masks and noted that 26 legislators in Mississippi have tested positive for the virus.

His unwillingness to even try to work with the General Assembly was stated much more recently, on June 10th, following the state Supreme Court’s oral arguments on his suits to invalidate several bills passed by the state legislature earlier this year:

    You look back at different things that this legislature has tried to do in the midst of this pandemic and they would have not had the courage to step up and mandate masks, which we know from the experts is absolutely necessary.

Which raises the obvious question: did the Governor, before issuing his order, do something really radical like call the heads of the various state agencies and get their input, or ask them to put in place such rules for the agencies they ran? It’s not that the agency heads had no clue that such an order could come; I have been noting for weeks now that the Governor was looking for an excuse to reimpose the mask mandate, and, despite my obvious brilliance, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.

Protesters hanged Governor Andy Beshear in effigy, May 24, 2020.

Governor Beshear hates Republicans, and, in the Bluegrass State, a whole lot of Republicans hate Mr Beshear, and protestors over his lockout policies hanged the Governor in effigy last year. Yeah, that makes it difficult for them to work together. But the state agency heads aren’t rowdy protesters, and many are elected officials in their own rights, people not under the Governor’s authority, and people whom he cannot simply fire. Even if the Governor did not think he would get much of a positive response, he would have at least have had a chance of compliance if he had had the courtesy to call them in advance and ask for their cooperation, or even to issue the instructions for their agencies under their own authority.

But, if the Governor made such calls, it was not so reported in the Herald-Leader article. Personally, I doubt that he did, simply because he believes he can just issue his decrees.

So, if the agency officials refuse to go along, what can the Governor do? He has only two options:

  1. He can plead and cajole with them; or
  2. He can send in the Kentucky State Police to do, what, arrest those not wearing masks?

He did, after all, send the State Police to record license plate and vehicle identification numbers on cars in church parking lots on Easter Sunday of 2020!

Still, I doubt that even our Governor would be so boneheadedly stupid as to do that. At least, I hope so!
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Update! Well, what do you know?

    Beshear not considering reinstating statewide mask mandate despite COVID case surge

    By Alex Acquisto | July 29, 2021 01:53 PM

    As the threat of COVID-19 continues to worsen in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday said he is not at the point of considering a statewide vaccine mandate or reconsidering a mask mandate.

    “I am not currently considering reinstating the mask mandate,” he said in the state Capitol during a news conference. But reinstating it isn’t out of the question: “It’s on the table if needed.”

    Likewise, with a statewide vaccine mandate, “Right now, I don’t think a mandate from me would necessarily get those that have been unwilling to get vaccinated, vaccinated,” he said.

I’m pretty sure that he’s right about that! Of course, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 8, which expands the exemptions allowable to refuse mandatory vaccination orders, and it became law without the Governor’s signature on March 23, 2021.

So, the mask mandate remains on the table, if not issued again. But I wonder: what would happen if the Governor would simply ask Kentuckians to wear masks, rather than ordering them to do so?

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Andy Beshear orders face masks in all state office buildings

I have been saying, for a while now, that Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) would eventually reissue his odious mask mandate. He hasn’t yet, but he’s moving closer to it:

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It’s getting closer and closer! School districts . . . should require all students and all adults to wear a mask while in the classroom and other indoor settings, Andy Beshear said

It was just last Friday that the Fayette County public schools, the Commonwealth’s second largest,, announced that most COVID-19 restrictions were going to be lifted for when school begins again next month:

    Many COVID restrictions are lifted in Fayette school cafeterias. And all kids eat free.

    By Valarie Honeycutt Spears | July 23, 2021 | 10:29 AM | Updated: July 23, 2021 | 10:38 AM

    Many COVID restrictions will be lifted in Fayette school cafeterias in 2021-2022, a year in which all kids will eat free regardless of family income.

    Breakfast and lunch meal service will resume normal operations that were in effect prior to the COVID pandemic. Meals will not be delivered to the classrooms. High Schools will resume a la carte lines.

    Students may eat in the cafeteria, classroom, and other designated areas, a letter to families said.

Of course, Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) waxed wroth!

    Beshear says Kentucky schools should consider requiring all students to wear masks

    By Alex Acquisto and Valarie Honeycutt Spears | July 26, 2021 | 3:13 PM | Updated: 5:38 PM EDT

    Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday sent a clear message to schools on when Kentucky students should wear masks in the fall, though he stopped short of issuing an order.

    Beshear said all unvaccinated students and adults should wear masks in classrooms and other indoor school settings. He said schools should require all students under the age of 12 to wear masks in classrooms. Those students are not yet eligible for vaccines.

    School districts wishing to optimize safety and minimize risks of educational and athletic, disruptions should require all students and all adults to wear a mask while in the classroom and other indoor settings, Beshear said.

    “There’s only one right answer that protects the kids,” Beshear.

    Beshear said a mandate is “not off the table.” Be he said he thought school districts would do the right thing before that was necessary.

I’ve said it before: Mr Beshear loves him some dictatorial powers, and while he hasn’t reissued his illegal and unconstitutional mask mandate yet, it seems like he’s getting closer to doing that, every day.

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Andy Beshear will try to issue another odious mask mandate any day now

I told you so!

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) hasn’t tried to make masks mandatory again, but today’s “recommendations” certainly set the table for that.

The Governor’s new “recommendations” are:

  • All unvaccinated Kentuckians should wear masks indoors when not in their homes
  • Kentuckians at higher risk due to pre-existing conditions should wear masks indoors when not in their homes
  • Vaccinated Kentuckians in jobs with significant public exposure should consider wearing a mask at work
  • All unvaccinated Kentuckians, when eligible, should be vaccinated immediately

Mr Beshear is like any other American: under our First Amendment, he has the freedom of speech, and can recommend anything he wishes. But I do not trust him, nor do I trust the state Supreme Court and how they may rule on the Governor’s legal attempts to invalidate the restrictions on his emergency powers under KRS 39A passed by the General Assembly last February, and it’s all too easy to see Mr Beshear trying to turn his recommendations into orders.

Kentucky reporting new cases of COVID-19 at levels not seen since March

By Alex Acquisto | July 22, 2021 | 1:38 PM | Updated: 2:06 PM EDT

Kentucky is poised to report its fourth consecutive week of rising COVID-19 cases, the overwhelming majority of which are driven by unvaccinated people, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.

“We believe that on Monday we are going to be in another week of increasing cases,” the governor said from the state Capitol. Cases began rising again in late June after two months of consecutive decline.

In Kentucky, where roughly half the state is at least partially vaccinated, over 95% of the more than 61,000 new coronavirus cases from March 1 to July 21 were among unvaccinated people, the governor announced. Likewise, 92% of the 3,100 coronavirus-related hospitalizations and 89% of the 447 people who died of coronavirus were either unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated.

OK, let’s stop right there. The vaccines didn’t even become available to people under 70 until the beginning of March, so when March and April are included, those numbers are wholly skewed. I’m in my upper sixties, and I was not able to get my first dose until April Fool’s Day, and my second until Cinco de Mayo. I would not have been considered “fully vaccinated” until 14 days after my second dose, which meant May 19th.

So, when the Governor tells us that “over 95% of the more than 61,000 new coronavirus cases from March 1 to July 21 were among unvaccinated people,” he is using a time frame in which most Kentuckians had the opportunity to be vaccinated. The percentage of the Commonwealth’s population which could have been vaccinated, especially “fully vaccinated,” during March and April was pretty small.

Note what the Herald-Leader had reported just two days earlier:

About one-fifth of the new COVID-19 cases in Lexington in July occurred in vaccinated people, according to new data from the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

Those so-called “breakthrough” cases had accounted for less than 1 percent of Lexington’s reported infections until the last few weeks. In May, less than 10 percent of the month’s cases were breakthrough infections. In June, that number increased to almost 15 percent.

This month, about 19.5 percent of all cases have been in people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the health department.

Note, the report is that 19.5% were among people fully vaccinated. One wonders what the infection rate was for those who were only partially vaccinated.

The vaccines are supposed to help those who do contract the virus anyway by resulting in far less serious symptoms. If someone has been vaccinated, and he doesn’t feel sick, there’s really no reason for him to be tested, so, though we can’t prove a negative, it stands to reason that a smaller percentage of vaccinated than unvaccinated people get tested for COVID-19. It could well be that the percentage of vaccinated people who are infected with COVID anyway is significantly higher than anyone knows.

And why would a fully vaccinated person get tested unless it was absolutely necessary? From CNBC:

If a vaccinated person tests positive for Covid, through routine workplace testing, for example, “we don’t just let them go about their business and forget about the fact that they tested positive,” says Dr. Peter Katona, professor of medicine and public health at UCLA and chair of the Infection Control Working Group.

“With the understanding that you’re less of a problem than an unvaccinated [person], it doesn’t mean you let up on your protocol,” he says.

The most important thing to do after testing positive would be to isolate, meaning you stay away from people who are not sick, including others who are vaccinated, and monitor for Covid-related symptoms, Gonsenhauser says.

“You are going to have to isolate just as though you were not vaccinated for 10 days from the first symptoms that you recognize or from the time of your test…keeping yourself from being around other people until that period is up,” Gonsenhauser says.

You should avoid visiting any private or public areas or traveling during that 10-day period, according to the CDC.

In other words, if you are fully vaccinated and are not sick, getting tested can mean only one thing: more restrictions on your life!

And here comes what I said was coming:

The more contagious Delta variant is driving an increase in cases and the statewide positivity rate, which rose above 6% on Wednesday for the first time since late February. On Tuesday, the state reported 1,054 new cases of the virus — the highest single-day increase since March 11, Beshear said. On Wednesday, the state reported 963 new cases.

For the first time since he lifted the statewide mask mandate and repealed capacity restrictions in early June, Beshear said on Thursday that he will not shy away from reinstituting those rules if the spread of the virus continues to gain momentum.

“We’re not going to be afraid to make the tough decision if it’s merited,” he said, again noting that the solution to stemming spread is for more people to get vaccinated.

It is, I believe, the wiser choice for people to go ahead and get vaccinated; not only have I said that before, but my freely disclosed choice on the matter months ago ought to stand as testimony to that. And if someone believes that he ought to wear a face mask, I absolutely support his right to choose to do that.

But I am absolutely opposed to the government trying to mandate vaccination, or facemasks, or any of the restrictions on our individual rights that so many states imposed previously. COVID-19 may be deadly in a small percentage of cases, but it has already dealt a near-mortal blow to our rights as free people and as Americans.

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It’s being set up again! The Lexington Herald-Leader is trying to set up a scenario in which Governor Beshear reissues his mask mandate

As we have previously noted, a government and credentialed media which just love to restrict our constitutional rights, are once again setting up a scenario in which Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) will claim that he just has to issue mandatory mask orders and other restrictions, for our own good, don’t you know?

    Lexington COVID-19 cases jump. Variants, loosening of restrictions to blame.

    By Rayleigh Deaton | July 13, 2021 | 1:42 PM | Updated: 2:06 PM EDT

    The number of new COVID-19 cases jumped Tuesday in Lexington as a result of lifted restrictions and virus variants, according to the health department.

    On Tuesday, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department said there were 53 new cases, and the “COVID-19 continues to spread.” The city’s previous rolling average of four new cases per day has risen to 22 since July 6, according to the department. As of June 13, there have been 35,726 total coronavirus cases and 324 deaths since the pandemic began early last year.

    Kevin Hall, spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, said, “Most of Lexington’s new cases are a form of a variant, with the Delta variant popping up among them.” The Delta variant has been more contagious.

The article writer, the editor who wrote the headline,[1]Headlines in newspapers are traditionally written by editors, not the article authors, but that might not be the case in this instance. and the Lexington Health Department spokesman all wanted to tell us the same thing: loosened restrictions on people are to blame. How long will it be before they start to advocate that Governor Beshear try to once again impose his illegal and unconstitutional restrictions on us?

    Hall said other guidelines include:

    • Avoiding close contact with people showing COVID symptoms.
    • Covering coughs and sneezes.
    • Avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
    • Washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
    • Wearing a face covering in crowded places.

There it is, of course: the setting up of fear, fear of other people in Mr Hall’s first point — after all, people who have been exposed to COVID-19 can pass on the virus before they show any symptoms themselves — and the need, in the last point, that we’re all doomed if we don’t wear face masks again.

At least so far, the Herald-Leader’s Opinion section does not show any editorials pushing the Governor to reimpose his COVID-19 restrictions, but it may well be only a matter of time.

References

References
↑1 Headlines in newspapers are traditionally written by editors, not the article authors, but that might not be the case in this instance.
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It’s being set up again!

Long-term readers of The First Street Journal — both of them — know that my trust of Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) is so great that if he told me that 2 + 2 = 4, I’d check his math. I noted his attempts to have the state Supreme Court invalidate Senate Bill 1, House Bill 1, and other legislation which would restrict his ’emergency powers’ under KRS 39A, saying that it was necessary that he have those powers as defined before the General Assembly passed, over his veto, restrictions on how they could be used. The Kentucky Supreme Court has yet to issue its ruling, but I must admit: given how the justices have bent over backward for Mr Beshear, both when he was state Attorney General and now, as Governor, I am not confident that the Court will uphold the laws. Continue reading →

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The Pennsylvania state legislature slaps down Governor Tom Wolf

From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Legislature votes to immediately end Pa.’s coronavirus disaster declaration while keeping waivers in place

Republicans said terminating the emergency order was what Pennsylvanians demanded when they granted the legislative branch new powers during the May primary.

by Sarah Anne Hughes | June 10, 2021 | 12:29 PM EDT

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania legislature has voted to immediately end Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus disaster declaration using a new power granted to the legislative branch by primary voters, while also keeping in place certain regulatory waivers.

Republicans who advanced the resolution said terminating the emergency order was what Pennsylvanians demanded when they approved two constitutional amendments last month in what was widely seen as a referendum on the administration’s pandemic response.

Due to the wording of the constitutional amendments, this resolution is not subject to a veto by the Governor. And it should be pointed out that the people of the Keystone State voted against the Governor on this.

“What happened to tyranny, guys?” Rep. Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) asked his Republican colleagues sarcastically. He called the vote to end the emergency order “political theater,” as all mitigation orders, save for a universal masking requirement, are no longer in place.

The mask mandate is the most visible symbol of the tyranny, and the most hated one.

That the tyranny of Governor Wolf, as well as that of Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY), was almost over, as those governors have gradually pulled back on their illegal and unconstitutional orders, does not mean that tyranny should not be fought, that those who support our constitutional rights should somehow forgive the tyrants, and leave things in place for the tyrants to use again.

Philadelphia was scheduled to end its mask mandate tomorrow.

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On lying

Though I have refused to carry my vaccination record, as some form of #VaccinePassport, I have stated publicly that I did receive the Moderna vaccine shots, interestingly enough on April Fool’s Day and then Cinco de Mayo.

The Centers for Disease Control stated, on May 13th, that “fully vaccinated” people could dispense with face masks and “social distancing.” Now, I have been fighting as hard as I can Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) authoritarian dictates, not that fighting has done much good; he has gotten away with his illegal and unconstitutional actions. The Governor has stated that he will lift almost all of his COVID-19 executive orders on June 11th, and already lifted the mandatory mask order for those “fully vaccinated” when the CDC guidance was issued.

I, of course, had never worn a mask outdoors, and only did so indoors at the insistence of property owners.

But, with my status of being “fully vaccinated” not occurring until May 19th,[1]May 19th is special to me as well, because it is Mrs Pico’s and my wedding anniversary. For some unknown reason, she has put up with me for 42 years now! fourteen days after my second dose of the vaccine, I was presented with a dilemma on Sunday, May 16th. The Bishop of Lexington, and my individual parish, stated the same thing, that “fully vaccinated” parishioners could attend Mass indoors without a mask.

Now, I have not believed that a mask was necessary at all, and have noted before that the forecasts that Texas would see doom, doom, doom! for dropping its mask mandate on March 10th instead resulted in the Lone Star State seeing a precipitous drop in cases, but Mass, being held three days prior to achieving that mythical “fully vaccinated” status meant that if I attended Mass without a mask, I would be, in effect, lying to my pastor, to our church sister, and to the other parishioners, concerning my vaccine status. Yes, I wanted to, will always want to, fight the Governor’s illegal and unconstitutional restrictions, but the change in the regulations, which have always been political, also meant a change in the nature of telling the truth. Not wearing a mask previously was a political action, a statement of resistance, and it was not a statement of vaccine status. Once the CDC and the Governor took their actions, not wearing a mask also became a statement that one was fully vaccinated.

Thus, from May 13th through 18th, not wearing a mask indoors would be, for me, the public telling of a lie.

I chose not to lie!

Come June 11th, if the Governor has not lied — and if Mr Beshear told me that 2+2=4, I would check his math — wearing or not wearing a mask is no longer a point of truth-telling. But, until then, not wearing a mask can be interpreted as a public statement, “I have been vaccinated.” Concomitantly, wearing a mask when you have been fully vaccinated can be interpreted by others as a statement that you have not been vaccinated, and might be an #antivaxxer.

So, at Mass on May 16th, I wore a mask, and did not lie. On Sunday, May 23, which just happens to be one year since we were so graciously ‘allowed’ to return to Mass, I did not.

Attendance at Mass should not be a political act, but our Governor has made it one, and I have not missed Sunday Mass once since the Diocese of Lexington has reopened.

References

References
↑1 May 19th is special to me as well, because it is Mrs Pico’s and my wedding anniversary. For some unknown reason, she has put up with me for 42 years now!
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Toldjah so!

We had previously noted that the Lone Star State, which had dropped its mandatory mask order on March 10th, was doing better than a lot of states which had those orders!

The so-called ‘experts’ all told us that the masks just had to be worn, but the empirical evidence, the real world results, have not borne that out.