As she walked up to the podium to speak, one of the moms grabbed a face mask and spit her gum out into it. “It’s garbage,” she shrugged, wadding it up. “It doesn’t work anyway. Not for me and not for my kids.”
A dad who spoke after her said he, too, doesn’t think the masks are effective, and said he’s pulling his kids out of school this fall if the state doesn’t lift its mandate requiring all K-12 students to wear a face covering. Another mother carried her 4-year-old son in her arms, noting there’s no way he would keep one on in his kindergarten class — but she thinks they’re stupid anyway, regardless of age.
Parent after parent followed at the Utah County commission meeting Wednesday afternoon, objecting for more than two hours to having their kids in masks even as counts of the virus continue to climb across the state, where there are more than 30,000 confirmed cases.
They packed into the small boardroom to talk, pulling tape off the seats meant to maintain social distancing and crowding in against the walls. They wore “Trump 2020” hats and carried little American flags, and every time someone said “freedom” or “constitutional rights” the whole room cheered. Almost no one wore a mask; those who did had them pulled under their chins.
“This mandate for the children to wear masks is baloney,” said Cynthia Harding, a Provo resident. “We have the right to make our own choices.”
Gov. Gary Herbert had issued the edict last week for masks to be required in schools after he earlier ordered them to open this fall. The move was largely met with applause from teachers and parents who say they feel it will keep those inside schools safe and slow the spread of the virus. But some are now starting to protest.
On Wednesday, the state saw two separate rallies around education.
It kicked off in Provo and was followed, hours later, by a second in Salt Lake City. In the state’s capital, parents and students called on the Salt Lake City School District to get kids back in the classroom instead of continuing online, even as the area — the only location in the state — remains in the “orange,” or moderate, risk phase for the virus.
“It’s not fair,” one student said. “All of the schools around us get to go back. And we don’t.”
The biggest difference is the families pushing to return in Salt Lake City are willing to send their kids back in masks to make it happen. At the larger and louder rally in the more conservative Utah County, not having to wear them was the point.
About 150 residents there began with a gathering organized by Utah County Commissioner Bill Lee about 30 minutes before the commission meeting. The Republican leader has called for a “compassionate exemption” from the mask requirement for the thousands of students in Alpine, Provo and Nebo School Districts in the county. Parents, he believes, should choose whether their children wear a covering or not.
“I don’t like government mandates,” Lee said to claps and whistles from the crowd.
When he first walked out from the Provo courthouse, he had a light blue face covering on, saying it was required of him. Those outside chanted, “Take the mask off!” And he did.
Demonstrators carried posters that read “Don’t smother the children” and “Let kids be kids. No masks!” A few younger kids sat in strollers, adding to their parents’ cheers. Most clung to the small bits of shade on the sweltering day, but the heat didn’t deter them.
When a few counter-protesters showed up, with one man holding a sign that argued, “Wearing a mask is an act of compassion,” the group yelled and screamed.
“It’s an act of submission,” they said. “Jesus gives us a choice,” they added. “And mandates are against freedom.”
At the other rally, they too wanted their kids back in school but were willing to have them wear masks in order to make it safe.
What in the hell is wrong with people? Is there something in the water? Lead paint? This is sheer lunacy.