Against the Masks

Attorney General Eric Schmitt sues the mayor of Kansas City after a new mask mandate.

Masking is no ones favorite thing, but its important for everyones safety during a pandemic.

Photo by Kat

Masking is no one’s favorite thing, but it’s important for everyone’s safety during a pandemic.

Kat Owsley, Social Commissioner

Attorney General Eric Schmitt has decided to fight the COVID-19 mask mandate in Kansas City, Missouri.
Lawyer and former Assistant Attorney General Of Missouri, Elad Gross, has a very different opinion on masks, “I think it’s a proven, helpful mechanism to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and other diseases,” said Gross.
COVID-19 has thrown the world upside down. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 38 states, including the District of Columbia, which have issued mask mandates in 2020.
Schmitt is suing Kansas City Mayor, Quinton Lucas. “This continued unconstitutional and unreasonable government overreach must stop, especially in the face of a widely available vaccine,” Schmitt said.
According to the lawsuit which can be found on Schmitt’s website, point 34 says, “Although the City claims that the CDC ‘confirmed 194,000,000 total cases and 4,160,000 deaths nation-wide,’ the CDC’s actual numbers are far lower: 34,972,532 total cases and 611,061 deaths.”
In point 31, the lawsuit says “Under the Mask Mandate, the Director of Health, the Director of Regulated Industries, the Chief of the Kansas City Police Department, and the Chief of the Kansas City Fire Department are authorized to enforce the order. Specifically, they may enter property and seek show-cause orders against individuals or businesses who violate the order.”
A show-cause basically means that whoever orders the cause would probably need more information, or motive to grant the cause.

Point 32 states Lucas’ reasons for setting another mask mandate, “In a July 28, 2021, press release, Mayor Lucas identified three reasons for
imposing a new mask mandate beginning August 2, 2021: (1) recommendations from the
Centers for Disease Control, the Kansas City Health Department, and other unidentified health leaders regarding wearing masks in indoor public accommodations regardless of vaccination status.”
While the vaccines do help to prevent COVID-19, there are still many breakthrough cases.
The CDC says that countries that have required masking have a lower COVID-19 death rate than countries that allow on-site dining for restaurants.
National Public Radio, (NPR), reports that on July 12, 2021, the vaccination rate for Kansas City, MO was 37.6%. The article says that around 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated to stop COVID-19.
If the lawsuits proceed and Lucas is found guilty, it’s unclear what his punishment will be, however the mandate would be removed. This means that COVID-19 rates would probably go up. If the mandate remains in place rates will go down.