Violet Affleck calls for return of mask mandates

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Violet Affleck, the eldest daughter of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, has made an impassioned plea for more masks while opposing mask bans.

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Video posted online shows the Hollywood superstars’ offspring attending a Tuesday meeting of L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors, where she took the podium during the public comment portion.

Introducing herself as “Violet Affleck, Los Angeles resident, first-time voter and 18” and wearing a face mask, she advocated for mask availability and high-quality free testing while also stating her opposition to mask bans.

“I contracted a post-viral condition in 2019,” she told the room.

She said she is “OK now” but noted she saw “first-hand that medicine does not always have answers to the consequences of even minor viruses. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown that into sharper relief.”

In talking about the effects of long COVID, Affleck said that “to confront the long COVID crisis, I demand mask availability, air filtration and far-UVC light in government facilities, including jails and detention centres, and mask mandates in county medical facilities.”

She added to the board, “We must expand the availability of high-quality free tests and treatment and, most importantly, the county must oppose mask bans for any reason.”

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Affleck concluded: “They do not keep us safer, they make vulnerable members of our community less safe and make everyone less able to participate in Los Angeles together. Thank you.”

While many online hailed the young woman for being a “hero” and “smart kid,” others blasted her for thinking mask-wearing would help with any health issues.

“How many images have we seen of her with her family and she’s the only one masked??,” one user on X asked. “God what a travesty.”

Another called the teen, who is often photographed wearing a mask, “deluded.”

“Masks never worked but in the height of COVID fear, she may have had an excuse that others are wearing one.”

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Affleck’s plea comes weeks after Dr. Anthony Fauci’s testimony was released in which he said the masking and six-foot social-distancing rules “sort of just appeared.”

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Speaking to counsel on behalf of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic earlier this year, Fauci told Republicans that he didn’t remember how the six-foot social distancing rule came about.

“You know, I don’t recall,” he said of the social-distancing guidelines, according to released committee transcripts. “It sort of just appeared.”

Fauci also told the committee that he didn’t remember reading anything to support that masking kids would prevent them from contracting COVID.

When asked whether he reviewed any studies or data supporting masking for children, Fauci responded: “I might have, but I don’t recall specifically that I did.”

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