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Riverside County Seal. (Wikipedia)

Riverside County Issues Mandatory Mask Order

‘To begin with, you can argue first amendment violations’ with Church services stopped by local officials

By Evan Symon, April 6, 2020 1:52 pm

During the weekend, Riverside County became the first county in the state to issue a mandatory mask order, as well as stopping all non-family member gatherings.

Mandatory masks and increased stay at home orders in Riverside County

Starting yesterday, all Riverside County residents will need to wear a mask at all times when in public to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The order also came only days after the county had recommended that people wear them in public. Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser had upgraded the order after it had been reported that many county residents were not wearing masks.

‘While more and more Riverside County residents are getting COVID-19, not everybody’s getting the message,” said Dr. Kaiser in a statement. “It started with staying home, social distance and covering your face. But now we change from saying that you should to saying that you must.”

Riverside County’s announcement quickly pulled other counties to take more action. Throughout the weekend, more counties in Southern and Northern California, including Los Angeles County, urged all residents to cover their noses and mouths when outside. San Diego County went one step further and ordered all essential and County workers to wear masks.

The county’s order to ban all public gatherings was initially resisted on Sunday by many churches celebrating mass. While many did eventually announce that they too would close after Sunday and offer online only services, several have announced their intentions to hold Easter services next week. The county’s statement said that any non-family gathering inside the house would be enforced by law enforcement ‘as they deem necessary’.

Charges of officials overstepping their authority and violating laws

While County officials have put these measures into place to stop the spread of the coronavirus and to save lives, the illegality of the moves have been noted by many as well.

“To begin with, you can argue first amendment violations,” said Charles Szabo, a lawyer who helped successfully challenged several swine flu restrictions a decade ago. “The county is literally stopping church services by issuing the gathering order. Yes, most churches have voluntarily complied, but there are a few wanting to stay open to serve those who can’t use online services or won’t do it in private. They could argue public safety, but then again freedom of religion and assembly could be infringed here.”

“The mask order is also worrisome. The County health department gave the order but not a higher official. They’re going a bit far in what they’re supposed to do, but most people are going with it because they want to reduce coronavirus risk.”

“Crazy times do call for increased measures. During WWII we had rations and factories were ordered to produce wartime goods. During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. This is on a much smaller scale, but the emergency is still there. And this is only a local order too.”

“It will be interesting to see what lawsuits and introspection we’ll see on these as the year continues. Some of these places, especially the churches, won’t take kindly to having police barge in on a service. Some places outside of California have been issued misdemeanors over having church over Governor orders, and those are going to be headaches of lawsuits later on.”

13,438 COVID-19 coronavirus cases have been reported in California, with 319 deaths also being reported for the state.

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Evan Symon
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8 thoughts on “Riverside County Issues Mandatory Mask Order

  1. The more I read on this issue, the more I am convinced that this is a false flag operation on a scale that dwarfs 9/11. Let’s apply some reason. First, the virus (assuming there is one; PCR testing is notoriously inaccurate) was in the wild for months before the Chinese noticed it. Second, China then waited at least another month before telling anyone about it. Third, during all that time, modern air travel was moving millions of people and millions of tons of goods around the world every single day. Much of it came from or passed through China. Last, Americans do not (well, they didn’t previous to the panic) run to the doctor with the sniffles unless it gets bad. When we do, physicians rarely order any testing to determine which virus we have, and those tests are not very accurate anyway.

    Bottom line, almost everyone in the industrialized world was exposed long before any measures were taken. That cold you had two months ago could easily have been COVID-19, and you will never know. Cases in the U.S. did not spike in March; it appears so only because that is when Trump lifted the FDA ban on private testing, causing a spike in tests performed. This deliberately engineered panic and the official response to it will kill more people and do far more economic damage than the virus ever could have, while serving the agendas of multiple left wing special interests. Will those responsible ever be held to account? I’m not holding my breath.

    1. Agreed, might i also add… Last year the common flu had a bad season and over 50000 died in the US alone. I find it interesting that no one has mentioned the common flu this year… It must have vanished… Or is it that any “flu like symptoms” are considered “covid-lieteen”. The numbers dont justify the reaction… Over 150k people die each day, smoking kills 10x this virus so why not force some right-taking bogus law on them to save the fools from their fate…. Nope. Thanks bill fence…

  2. Will the police officer who stops you be wearing a mask, gloves, and exercising social distancing? How will they put cuffs on you? Will they sanitize the back of the cruiser just before seating you? How will there be social distancing while in the vehicle? Will they provide a mask?
    And.. when will this obvious madness end?

  3. Just put the f en masks on it could save one of your family s lives! More importantly one of mine!

  4. I’m reading these comments almost 30 days after these comments were written
    There have been over 3.7 million C-19 cases reported and 263,000 deaths worldwide.
    Just curious: what’s your thinking now and please comment with these most recent facts?

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