Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/16/north-carolina-senate-passes-bill-to-ban-masks-in-public-even-for-cancer-patients.html
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Welp, looks like I won’t be visiting Asheville any time soon… 
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What’s next, condoms?
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Are masks forbidden for anyone operating on a North Carolina senator?
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Some of these MAGAt lunatics believe that the masks are part of a cult ritual. As usual, it ends up being projection for this pack of death cultists.
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I’m sure most people realize this, but there never was any rule against wearing medical masks prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beyond insane that Republicans want us to be scared of people wearing masks but not (white) people carrying guns.
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Here is the text of the law. https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_14/gs_14-12.7.html
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A plain text reading of the law would also ban wearing protective gear for painters, landscapers, exterminators and all manner of other people who cover their faces for safety reasons beyond stopping the spread of viruses.
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That’s not the full law. The full law can be found here. The TL;DR is that this law has been on the books for years. There are a number of exceptions, including for people who wear masks as part of their job, and even for Halloween. There was also an exception for medical reasons. This action by the NC legislature is removing that particular exception. Which is fucking stupid. But this bill won’t ban painters, doctors, etc., from wearing masks. Just sick people like cancer patients, because fuck them, right?
By the way, I’m pretty sure this would violate the ADA, and federal law is still supposed to supersede state law. Of course, the supremacy clause seems to have weakened in recent years, so who knows?
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The party of small government right? So small it dictates what you can wear on your face.
This is going to be extra fun when bird flu starts spreading more in people. Probably any day now, since we’re not really doing anything to stop it.
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It has not been for a while when it comes to anything that isn’t tax cuts and deregulation… they went in the exact OPPOSITE direction for general freedoms for individuals. They are a fascist party, after all. Look at what they’ve been doing since Reagan, not what they say.
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The word you really want is petty.
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On paper, yes, it would apply to them. In practice, I suspect it will only apply to leftist protesters and POC.
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Easy work-around: North Carolina oncologists will have to give their patients a roll of Frogtape and a 2" angled sash brush to carry at all times.
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A post was split to a new topic: Masking in Japan vs North Carolina: What is the Difference?
Give 'em another year, and they’ll demand doctors vomit or relieve themselves inside patients they’re operating on.
Give 'em another two years, and they’ll ban health care altogether.
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It was bad enough during the height of covid when conservatives were trying to frame mask wearing as a personal choice (which ignores how masks work, primarily to protect other people), but now the mask is off - literally and figuratively. The people so upset that “the libs” (i.e. doctors) were trying to “control their lives!” were just engaging in projection all along… as usual.
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Don’t have to in a for-profit system. Just raise costs until the majority of Americans can’t access health care.
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You are far more optimistic than I am at this point…
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