Violet Affleck voices her opposition to the mask ban Recently released by LA Mayor Karen Bass.
The 18-year-old daughter of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner spoke during the public comment portion of Tuesday. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Meetingthat had nothing related to masks on her agenda. She introduced herself as a “Los Angeles resident” and “first-time voter,” and wore a mask herself, warned of the dangers that a mask ban would pose to “vulnerable members of our community,” and revealed that she had once been among them.
“In 2019, I contracted a post-viral illness,” Violet Affleck said. “I’m fine now, but I saw firsthand that medicine doesn’t always have answers for the consequences of even minor viruses. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought that into sharp relief.”
The recent high school graduate did not specify what illness she was suffering from, but went on to speak of the debilitating nature of long COVID.
“One of every ten [COVID-19] “Coronavirus infections can lead to long COVID, a devastating neurological and cardiovascular disease that can rob people of their ability to work, see, move and even think,” Affleck said, speaking quickly to fit his presentation into the minute allowed.
Long COVID can persist for weeks, months, or even years after COVID-19 illness, according to Centers for Disease Controlly PreventionThe most commonly reported symptoms are fatigue, mental confusion, and post-exertional malaise.
“To address the prolonged COVID crisis,” he asked supervisors to promote mask availability, air filtration and UV sterilization in government facilities, including jails and detention centers. He also advocated for the return of mask mandates in county medical facilities.
“We must expand the availability of free testing and treatment, and most importantly, the county must oppose mask bans for any reason,” he continued. “They don’t make us safer, they make vulnerable members of our community less safe, and they make everyone less able to participate together in Los Angeles.”
Following a pro-Palestinian attack on June 23 protest Outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, Bass suggested He was considering restricting the use of masks at protests, but at a news conference later that week, he said that cooled on the matter, saying: “At this point, we do not believe this will stand up to judicial scrutiny.”
In June, North Carolina lawmakers adopted a ban on masks for protests, with a health exception, introduced in part in response to protests on college campuses over the war in Gaza. Associated Press reported.
