Tag: face mask mandate

Commentary: The Vaccine Mandate Assault on the Common Good

Admin
Joe Biden

As Joe Biden launches via executive order a sweeping vaccine mandate for all federal government workers, and now a brand-new initiative for private-sector mandates, the issue has once again risen to the forefront of the national dialogue. 

United Airlines, for example, recently became the first U.S. airline to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all its employees. United Airlines’ mandate takes effect on September 27, and it might augur a broader trend: A poll conducted last month by insurance and advisory firm Willis Towers Watson, for example, suggests that 52 percent of private-sector employers surveyed expect to have a workplace vaccine mandate by the end of 2021. As Biden’s brand-new announcement of a Department of Labor rule for private sector vaccination requirements now makes clear, that poll was prescient.

Against this backdrop, several Republican-leaning states have advanced laws or executive orders that prohibit private sector vaccine mandates for employees, customers, or in some other respect. That tally is now at least eight states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Texas, South Carolina, and South Dakota. The legal mechanics and specifics differ from state to state. But the highest-profile and most mechanically straightforward Republican-led assault on vaccine mandates is the one in my new home state, Florida. 

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Hamilton County Schools Interim Superintendent Calls for Universal Masking, Appeals to Parents to Choose to ‘Keep Our Students Safe’

Olivia Adams
Young girl with brown hair wearing black mask

Hamilton County Schools says it is struggling struggling to control COVID-19 as the delta variant continues to drive cases. This has prompted the public school district that operates 41 elementary schools, 21 middle schools, and 22 high schools in the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County School to ask all students to wear a mask. Some schools in the district have been closed altogether.

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Citizens Groups Hold Rallies in Franklin, Knoxville to Declare ‘We Will Not Comply’ With Mask Mandates

Jason M. Reynolds

Grassroots movements combating Tennessee’s never-ending mask mandates are gaining steam.

Tennessee Stands held a “Mask Free Tennessee Rally” Saturday on the Public Square in Franklin. A similar rally was held Sunday in Knoxville by No Mandates Tennessee.

Tennessee Stands organizers on Saturday evening posted on their Facebook page, “So thankful to all of the patriots that showed up today for the Mask Free Tennessee Rally today in Franklin! Our voices are louder together. We will not give in to the mob. We will not relinquish our liberty. We. Will. Not. Comply.”

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Ohio State University May Shut Down In Person Learning After Outbreak, Suspensions

Ben Kolodny

Ohio State University (OSU) is “preparing for a variety of situations” after violations of the school’s COVID-19 guidelines lead to a wave of suspensions.

Two hundred twenty-eight students received interim suspensions due to breaches of the school’s “Together As Buckeyes Pledge,” The Ohio Star previously reported. The suspensions came after a weekend of partying that violated the new guidelines against large social gatherings of more than 10 people.

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Ohio School District Goes Big on Face Shields, Then State Bans Them

Ben Kolodny

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) banned students last week from wearing face shields as a substitute for masks, according to Fox 19.

The ODH cited a CDC report that said “there is currently not enough evidence to support the effectiveness of face shields,” and the health organization also said it “does not currently recommend use of face shields as a substitute for masks.”

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Ohio Secretary of State Will Not Mandate Masks at Polling Places

Ben Kolodny

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose stated that Ohio will not require masks to be worn at Ohio polls.

In a press conference Wednesday, LaRose went through the state’s guidelines and detailed some of the precautions Ohio would take in light of the recent pandemic. The secretary of state encouraged voters to take advantage of absentee voting, a system that’s caused some controversy recently, stating that the system “is completely safe.”

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Crom Carmichael Talks Mask-Non Education Mandates and Questions the Left’s Continuation of Bad Public Policy

Julie Carr

Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.

During the third hour, Carmichael talked about the unrealistic science being used to mandate masks nationwide. He added that data supports that children under the age of 12 are unable to contract or contaminate older people and advocated the importance of getting them back into school.

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Hosts Leahy and Kellett Discuss Mandated COVID-19 Face Masks

Julie Carr

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed early edition co-host, Doug Kellett to the studio.

During the first hour, Leahy and Kellett discussed the lack of data to support the face mask mandate across the nation. Leahy noted that the public health officials at healthaffairs.org had used analyses providing supporting evidence that face masks only reduced the spread of coronavirus by only two percent.

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