I'd like to point out to anyone who thinks that "you do you" public health is sustainable that it's illegal to wear a mask in many public places in the US. This has only been on hold because of the emergency declaration and that's about to end.
For example, let me introduce you to my local law in Florida. Florida State statute 876.12:
Wearing mask, hood, or other device on public way.—No person or persons over 16 years of age shall, while wearing any mask, hood, or device whereby any portion of the face is so hidden, concealed, or covered as to conceal the identity of the wearer, enter upon, or be or appear upon any lane, walk, alley, street, road, highway, or other public way in this state.
This law was pointed out to my wife by a law enforcement officer who really wanted to arrest her for wearing a mask in a grocery store last year.
If you think you're going to be able to avoid COVID after the end of the emergency declaration you'd better be a full on hermit who never has to venture out.
@BE I abhor Florida more than most people do, but this ignores the existence of sections 876.155 and 876.16 which limit the scope of that fairly massively.
https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/0876.155
https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/0876.16
I'm not a lawyer, but, I disagree. I did bring this up elsewhere in the thread, not that I would expect anyone to read it all and find it. It doesn't ignore 15 or 16, to me, on multiple points.
It's the enforcement, right? The local police certainly believe it's applicable, and this law has, in fact, been used against people wearing masks for allergies and chemical sensitivities *prior* to the pandemic. It has not become more politically acceptable over the last three years down here.
As for the exemptions, it doesn't meet any of them.
As for the applicability I assumed elsewhere that it met paragraph 3 and I believe that's what local law enforcement believes as well.
In the end, I'm going to say it one more time just for emphasis, it's all about the enforcement. It wasn't *intended* for people wearing an N95 for allergies, but it's been used as such before.
We'll agree to disagree for the most part on this. This has been a largely academic discussion prior to the pandemic discussing how people have, in fact, been arrested for wearing a mask in public that's going to become real for people in a few months.
https://www.anapsid.org/cnd/mcs/maskcodes.html
https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/grggenl17&div=35&id=&page=
Just to make myself clear, which I realize I didn't, and not to argue it with you I'd like to add that when I said paragraph 3 I'm pointing to "harassment" which is problematic in Florida.
"In Florida, both harassment and stalking involve behavior that distresses another person, and both are loosely defined. Florida defines harassment as behavior that causes substantial emotional distress to a person and serves no legitimate purpose."
https://legalbeagle.com/6369919-harassment-stalking-laws-florida.html
This is the state in which people complain all of the time, and have enshrined law to combat, about talking positively about black people in history because it causes emotional distress to white kids.
Given our experiences here in Florida I absolutely believe that wearing a mask will be made out to be "emotionally distressing" to those not wearing a mask and they will point to the COVID Czar himself, Jha, stating that there's no study that says that masks are effective.
I should have made that clear up front instead of saying "paragraph 3" but I hadn't had enough caffeine at that point in my day yet :)
@BE I mean, yes, a local LEO can misread this and cite someone. But there is absolutely no defendable way that wearing a mask as COVID protection meets any of the four applicability groupings in .155, and I would be willing to bet a large sun that either a DA would be unwilling to sustain the charge or a judge would throw them out. Sure, it’s a huge HUGE pain in the ass for someone to find themselves having to actually defend themselves — no question there. But the law doesn’t apply.