It’s time to stand up to SLO County’s anti-mask bullies. Here’s one way to start

The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department now “strongly recommends” everyone wear face masks at indoor venues like supermarkets, banks and restaurants, regardless of vaccination status.

That’s a step forward, though with the rapid spread of the Delta virus, a mandate like the one in effect in Santa Barbara County would have been better.

Yet it’s easy to see why Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein wouldn’t want to go there — at least not yet — given the level of nastiness that mask mandates have unleashed.

Just look at the South County, where parents are attempting to recall three members of the Lucia Mar Unified School District.

The recall effort initially focused on the board’s decision to delay the reopening of schools for in-person instruction and athletics during the past academic year. But the district’s recent decision to mandate masks for all students — in accordance with state requirements — is adding fuel to the recall fire.

And the recall proponents have an ally in the San Luis Obispo County Republican Party; the local GOP recently circulated an email urging voters to sign the recall petition targeting board President Don Stewart and trustees Colleen Martin and Dee Santos.

“Racist Marxist school board members do everything they can to bring about total over our children!” the email warns.

It invites readers to click on links to YouTube snippets of angry parents lashing out at Aug. 3 board meeting.

“Wearing a mask is obscene,” a grandmother says in one clip.

In that same video, a Nipomo High teacher is rudely booed when he says masks proved to be only a “minor inconvenience” last spring.

On multiple occasions, the defiant crowd is gaveled or shushed into silence as it continues to lash out at the board.

These in-your-face tactics are giving us the skewed perspective of a vocal minority that’s been rebelling against school mask mandates. It’s not only badgering and heckling those charged with enforcing state rules, it’s also spreading disinformation by claiming masks are causing irreparable harm to students.

Sure, there are bogus “scientific” reports out there that claim face coverings cause everything from carbon dioxide poisoning to interfering with a child’s lung development.

There’s also a conspiracy theory that claims COVID vaccines are being used to implant tracking chips. And another that alleges vaccines can cause you to become magnetic.

Those are myths, and they’ve all been debunked.

We won’t belabor the point with reams of citations, but we do offer one statement from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:

“The preponderance of evidence indicates that mask wearing reduces transmissibility per contact by reducing transmission of infected respiratory particles in both laboratory and clinical contexts. Public mask wearing is most effective at reducing spread of the virus when compliance is high.”

That’s not going to convince the anti-maskers. At this point, it’s highly doubtful that anything would change their minds. They have turned basic public health into a blind political statement, and there’s no going back now.

To counteract that, it’s time for people who do believe in science and are willing to make sacrifices for the public good to change the script, by supporting those who are on the front lines, including school board members and teachers.

Here’s one way to start: If you live in South County, do not sign the recall petition.

Board members may have made mistakes — who hasn’t in these challenging times? — but how about a little empathy?

School district trustees are in the awful position of being damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

They err on the side of caution, and they’re accused of robbing children of their right to an education.

But if they were to relax the rules and children became seriously ill — that age group is seeing the largest rate increase, and hospitalizations and deaths have occurred in children in California — they would be blamed for that horrible outcome.

Parents are directing their anger at the wrong people. If anyone’s to blame for dragging this out, it’s the anti-vaxxers who aren’t taking the one step that’s key to ending this terrible pandemic.

Wearing a mask isn’t obscene. What’s obscene is this shameful bullying of public officials who dare to follow the medical recommendations of doctors and other experts.

That is the true outrage here, and it’s past time for the rest of us to say enough is enough.

This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 9:51 AM.