CHHS Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly during a press conference on July 21, 2020. (Photo: CDPH.ca.gov)
California Health Secretary Ghaly Announces School Mask Mandate Will Stay in Place Until March
Secretary Ghlay offers no push back on mandate end until at least the end of the month
By Evan Symon, February 14, 2022 8:53 pm
California Health and Human Services (CHHS) Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced Monday that the school mask mandate would stay in place for the rest of February despite drastically falling COVID-19 cases in the state and other states ending similar mandates in the next few months.
State mandated school masking has been in place since in-person K-12 classes resumed in late 2020 and early 2021. For 2021-2022, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) followed CDC guidelines and kept masks mandatory, with a special emphasis placed on masks during the omicron surge in late 2021 and early 2022.
NEWS: @CAPublicHealth says on Feb. 15th, the state will NOT lift the mandate that students & teachers wear masks in classrooms. pic.twitter.com/YFRQ3yK9CB
— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) February 14, 2022
However, with total cases plummeting by 75%, hitting an 8 week low on Monday, and positivity rates also falling, more and more Californians have begun questioning the need for indoor mask mandates. Last week, due to the falling numbers of COVID-19 cases, Governor Gavin Newsom announced an end to all statewide indoor mask mandates outside of some high risk areas including nursing homes starting on the 15th. However, the mandate didn’t cover schools, causing many parent groups to begin urging school boards to end it.
Many expected to hear an end date, or at least something akin to a road map to ending the school mask mandate on Monday, with Secretary Ghlay instead pushing back any chance of a mandate end until at least the end of the month.
“On February 28, we anticipate being able to share what the next period of time will look like and with some specificity, give a date when the masking requirement will move to a recommendation,” said Ghaly during his announcement on Monday, adding that multiple factors, including current case numbers, child vaccination rates, other facts, played a role in their decision. “This is not a decision that we take lightly. It’s not a decision that is a hasty one.
“Masking requirements were never put in place to be there forever. It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when. We are taking a little bit more time to consider the information, work with our partners across the state, to make sure when the move is made, that we are done doing it successfully and with communities empowered to continue to be safe.”
“Why isn’t it the same at schools? Because schools have been an important place for us to focus on for for some time.”
School mask mandates remain in place in CA
Even if statewide mask mandates for schools are lifted in March, which Ghaly hinted was likely, there is no guarantee that all school boards would follow. Many experts noted on Monday that some districts, like Los Angeles, would follow their county in delaying their order from the state order, similar to how LA County will still have indoor mask laws in place past Tuesday despite the state mandate being lifted.
“I think the state wants to be careful again in case of another outbreak and COVID cases still not quite where they were before omicron hit, but there is pressure from everywhere to get rid of the mask mandate in schools,” explained Phoebe Lewis, a pollster who focuses on education in Southern California, to the Globe on Monday. “Parents, students, even many teachers want it gone. The state is looking for when the risk is low again, and it’s a disagreement if we are low enough or if we’re not there yet. The debate is going to heat up for the rest of the month, and if there isn’t a return of a new strain surge, the pressure will be on the state to drop them.”
While the decision to keep the mask mandate was praised by many educators and health experts, others decried the extension on Monday.
“The decision to force students and teachers to continue wearing masks at school is not only out-of-line with science, but is hypocritical and dangerous for the education of California’s children,” noted RNC spokesperson Hallie Balch in a statement. “For two years, children have been forced to forgo a natural learning environment and have had their personal growth stymied because of out-of-touch mandates. With hundreds of pictures of celebrities and lawmakers ignoring the rules at sporting events, every Californian should be enraged that Democrats change the rules for their friends yet force children to continue to suffer.”
According to Ghaly, COVID-19 cases have gone down 75% from this time in January, with hospitalizations from that time down 40%.
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December 15, 2021
Dr. Ghaly is apparently another fellow who suffers from Mass Formation Psychosis. My advice to those who have similarly chosen to be afflicted by this cognitive deficit – “Get busy living or get busy dying.” Most of the people on this forum have chosen the former instead of the latter.
“Wear a mask. Slow the spread.” says the poster behind the good doctor. This is how “leaders” induce Mass Formation Psychosis among those who CHOOSE to follow them blindly. I doubt very much that Dr. Ghaly really believes what he is advocating with those words; but if he does, then he suffers from MFP himself. My advice to those who are not yet at the cognitive deficit stage of MFP is this: “Get busy living or get busy dying.” It’s a choice. You can free yourself from the dogma. I walked into a hospital today without a mask on. Everyone else in the building was wearing one. I was there for 2 hours and not a SINGLE PERSON stopped me and said anything about wearing a mask. Try it yourself and see. Be FREE.
Right on , Raymond!
The timing is perfectly ironic, yet again.
Almost time for another ‘deadly’ variant…. that might ‘overwhelm the hospitals’
unless We all give up more of Our freedoms.
Maybe the next one will be even milder than the last-
better hurry up and jab your 6 month old baby a few times……’just in case’.
Refuse to Live Your Life in fear !
Question Authority !
I agree with your completely!
It is past time we get back to fully educating all children and allow them to breathe freely and not interfere with their cognitive abilities especially those with special needs.
Valerie Walsh:
Masking young children in school harms language acquisition
“This is important because children and/or students do not have the speech or language ability that adults have — they are not equally able and the ability to see the face and especially the mouth is critical to language acquisition which children and/or students are engaged in at all times. Furthermore, the ability to see the mouth is not only essential to communication but also essential to brain development.”
https://brownstone.org/articles/more-than-150-comparative-studies-and-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/
Mask Induced Brain Fog. It just may be what Ghalley suffers from and subjects the children to.
https://brownstone.org/articles/evidence-of-mask-induced-brain-fog/
The guy looks like an idiot & apparently is!
“I’d like to help you son but you’re too young to vote”
Gavin Newsom (D-French Laundry) with apologies to Eddie Cochran
Child abusers BELONG IN PRISON. That means Newsom and Ghaly. And for those out there that follow these two buffoons blindly, and wear masks while walking alone outside, or driving alone in your Tesla or Volt, here are the words of a smart guy.
“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” Norman Cousins.
You got that right, Abe!
Dr. Mark McDonald agrees this is child abuse.
https://aflds.org/news/post/psychiatrist-bans-child-masking-and-all-forms-of-child-abuse-in-his-practice/
Let’s let the bureaucrats have another year of making an even more unintelligible labyrinth of unscientific rules which conflict with other unscientific rules. Why not? The first two years have been so fun.
Study after study… have indicated that masks actually don’t play any role in stopping the spread of COVID in schools and they impair many different learning activities. Cloth and surgical masks do absolutely nothing and N95 masks aren’t any better. They are worse than no mask since they lower your oxygen levels and can make you more likely to get infected with a respiratory virus. Stop this craziness!
“The same people that killed an entire generation in the womb (and continue to do so in California)
want your children to wear masks and get vaxxed to ‘save lives’… Let that sink in
Excellent. But voters keep voting for these idiots.