That later date has come. The Senate passed the revised bill today which allows medical masks for the purposes of avoiding spreading a communicable disease. It states medical & surgical masks … we don’t know if respirators like N95s and P100s will be permitted.
We also don’t know whether you will be able to wear a mask to avoid catching a disease. This language is purposefully and problematically vague and sounds as though you have to already BE COVID positive in order to mask.
Medical exemptions are extremely problematic in that they put undue burden on disabled individuals. We must get a medical note that not everyone can afford or access - and then if questioned by law enforcement may have to unmask while they assess the validity of our exemption. Covid can infect in seconds - if you’re immune compromised you can’t take that risk.
Medical exemptions also ignore the fact that disabled people don’t live in a vacuum. We have family, friends and caregivers who need to mask to avoid bringing COVID home to us.
And what about people who need to mask to avoid pollen, chemical scents or wildfire smoke? They won’t be able to either under this new bill.
Masks are politically unpopular right now - even though they should never have BEEN politicized. They’re a medical tool that’s needed in an airborne pandemic - especially now that most other tools have been dismantled. Making them illegal is discriminatory and reeks of ableism & eugenics.
Perhaps the most problematic part of the bill is the language that states that any member of the public can request you remove your mask. Best case this means private owners may ask you to remove mask for identification purposes - worst case anyone in public could legally start harassing and haranguing someone until they take off their mask. Imagine if we passed a law that allowed someone to demand another person abandon their wheelchair? We can’t let this happen.
I urge everyone to call their local officials and tell them they won’t stand for the banning of medical masks with or without an exemption. If you don’t live in North Carolina you can still call and say you will never visit or spend a single dollar in the State if this bill passes. We should ALL be pushing back because if this passes it will end up in other States - and it will embolden those who seek to harm people who are still masking and/or disabled. We need to say “enough is enough” and demand that we keep a critical tool to keep ourselves safe from COVID and other diseases. Together we can turn the tides on this but we have to get loud, work fast and make sure the powers that be know we see this for the ableist discriminatory garbage it is.
My original piece on the mask bans and eugenics is here for anyone who wants to read it: https://disabledginger.substack.com/p/we-are-witnessing-real-time-eugenics
I’m also attaching a screenshot of the bill as it currently stands so people can read the revised language for themselves. It’s NC HB 237
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