Remember when peer-reviewed scientific studies proved that masking did not protect against the spread or transmission of COVID-19? California lawmakers only recall the immense power granted to them through COVID-19 mandates. On September 1, 2025, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a warning to the public–“Protect yourself and your loved ones by considering masking in indoor public places like airports and planes. Wear a high-quality mask like an N95, KN95 or KF94 to stay protected.”
California gripped onto mask mandates longer than most US states. Governor Gavin Newsom was frequently photographed without a mask, disregarding his own social distancing protocols, but he maintained that Californians could not breathe freely in public without a mask for nearly two years.
Mask mandates have not been reimplemented, but “encouraging” masking is precisely how the mandate began. “I am concerned that people will not abide by [masking] recommendations,” Fauci said during the midst of the pandemic. “We’re not talking about mandates or forcing anybody, but when you have a situation where the volume of cases in society gets to a reasonably high level, the vulnerable, the elderly, those with underlying conditions, are going to be more susceptible, if they do get infected, of getting severe disease leading to hospitalization. We know that. That’s a fact,” Fauci told reporters at CNN.
Fauci later admitted that mask mandates were completely ineffective after being interrogated by Rand Paul:
Fauci admits that masks don’t work for the public at large but still absurdly claims masks work on an individual basis. More subterfuge. pic.twitter.com/UcjOa8flkr
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 3, 2023
US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle determined that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) violated the law by forcing travelers to wear masks. Furthermore, the CDC overstepped bounds by placing a mandate on personal behavior rather than “cleaning measure,” which is under their authority. It was not until this pandemic that the CDC was granted dictatorship powers over our lives.
After 22 months of preventing free breathing, the CDC admitted that cloth masks were never effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19. The Democrats proposed spending $5 billion to distribute N95 masks to every American as a “welcome to the pandemic” package, but rerouted those funds to climate change initiatives.
Countless studies have concluded that mask mandates caused more harm than good. There was NEVER a reason for the public to walk around with a useless piece of fabric over their faces. It was a humiliation ritual of government muzzling on a near-global scale to see how far the masses would go to obey government authority.
As one study noted:
“Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness/COVID‐19-like illness compared to not wearing masks. … Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza/SARS‐CoV‐2 compared to not wearing masks.”
Blindly obeying government during the pandemic became a religion. Vaccination status and masking became a sign of virtue and piousness in the eyes of the government’s flock of obedient sheep. We did not have the ability to share ideas and were censored from learning the truth. The truth has been revealed—COVID mandates were a global social experiment to test our obedience to authority. California lawmakers see their authority slipping as the federal government begins to step in. Their solution is to muzzle the willing and repeat the psyop game of masquerading their longing for control as a public health measure.