Filer Idaho School Board Scraps Mask Mandate

I’m told it was unanimous.  Board members removed the mandate and mask wearing will now be voluntary.  It would appear after a year the pandemic fatigue is complete.  First we were told there would be two weeks to flatten the curve.  Then it somehow morphed into 12 months in many parts of the country.  Throughout the past year I’ve heard it said schools were among the safest gathering places.  Mainly because kids seemed to have the strongest resistance to the virus.

More signs the fear may be levelling off came this week.  I walked into an auto parts store where a sign told me a mask was required.  I’d forgotten to wear one and apologized when I got inside.  “Don’t worry about it,” a clerk told me as he waved me over.  I looked around the store and realized I wasn’t alone.

A convenience store one block away a few weeks ago removed the Plexiglas at the counter.  The staff isn’t masked.  A sign in the door asks patrons to wear a face covering.  Most shoppers are bare faced.  Nobody appears to be getting tossed out of the building.

Columnist John Feehery worked for many years on Capitol Hill.  He now writes for a publication known as the Hill.  He’s reflecting on six things we’ve learned these last 12 months.  One caught my attention.  An overall death rate below one percent.  I grant some decisions were made last spring by Governors, town boards and city councils because we didn’t know the outcome when it comes to a strange new disease.  What bothers me is how some seemed to enjoy the surge of power over the people for whom the politicians claim to work.  The one I can’t forget is the Mayor of a small Idaho city.  He posted a video from a workout club and threatened to have people arrested if they visited with neighbors.  He was working out in a gym and issuing threats to his constituents.

It made me think of Greg Stillson in the Dead Zone.  Coronavirus has been a warning of potential dangers ahead.  Especially among the power hungry.

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