As national media outlets warn of a new wave of COVID-19 and suggest pandemic-era responses, State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale) highlighted two Arizona laws that will prohibit face mask mandates in businesses and schools.
In a press release from the Arizona House of Representatives, the legislator noted that CNN, CBS, and The Washington Times have published articles that either encourage or note “the return of mask mandates” across the country. Chaplik (pictured above) added, “The good news is that mandates won’t be happening here in Arizona.”
Chaplik referred to two bills he introduced, HB 2770 and HB 2616, that were signed into law by former Governor Doug Ducey (R).
HB 2770 specifies that “a business in this state is not required to enforce on its premises a mask mandate that is established by this state, a city, town or county or any other jurisdiction” in Arizona, while HB 2616 forbids “this state, any political subdivision of this state, any other governmental entity, any school district or any charter school” from requiring “a mask or face covering be worn by a person under eighteen years of age without the express consent of the person’s parent or guardian.”
According to Chaplik, HB 2770 gave businesses the “freedom to decide whether or not to observe and enforce any mask mandate imposed” at any level of government, while HB 2616 forbade “school districts and local governments from requiring minors to wear a mask or face covering without parental consent.” That, Chaplik added in his statement, “was a victory for parents’ rights and for our children’s health.”
“Masking mandates imposed on the public didn’t work and certainly weren’t effective at preventing the spread of COVID,” said Chaplik. “Mandates were especially unnecessary for children, the least at-risk population. If an individual chooses to wear a mask, that remains their personal choice, but it should never be mandated by the government.”
Chaplik added, “thankfully, the public won’t need to contend with new mandates in Arizona because of the action we’ve taken at the state capitol.”
Last week Axios reported the COVID-19 hospitalization rate in Arizona fell 4 percent between June and July, but claimed “[r]ising COVID numbers nationwide point to a late summer wave of the virus,” quoting two experts on the disease, and citing a new variant spreading in the United States.
Other experts, meanwhile, have questioned the efficacy of both COVID-19 preventative measures, including face masks, as well as the COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots.
University of San Francisco epidemiologist Vinay Prasad recently said masking never had “good data in community settings in the past” and the practice “is literally incoherent now,” three years after the pandemic began, while science journalist David Zweig questioned “hyperbolic language” used by the media to describe COVID-19.
“The use of this hyperbolic language by so many media outlets that over-dramatizes risk skirts very close to misinformation,” asserted Zweig.
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Tom Pappert is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Tom on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
