The Dictator of Washington State removed the state-wide Covid Mask Mandate as of midnight on Friday, March 11.  The wearing of masks indoors remains mandatory for all medical/dental facilities and jails, and on government/public transportation (including ride-shares like Uber and Lyft, which are not government-owned).  So on Saturday and Sunday, I kept my eyes open at public places, to see whether the 100%-compliant Washingtonians would give up their security blanket.

The answer is “partly”.  The first stop Saturday afternoon was a local Acura dealer, where Hubby’s car was getting fixed.  We drove into the service area, and noticed that four of the five service coordinators were not wearing masks.  Many of the customers, however, wore masks.  The second stop was a local sandwich shop.  There were three employees behind the counter, one of whom was the owner.  He was not wearing a mask, but the other two young employees wore masks.  Aside from Hubby and me, ALL the other customers who came and went over the 25 minutes we were there, were wearing masks.

On Sunday, I went and did some shopping at two local grocery stores.  At least 50% of the customers in both places continued to wear masks.  Today after work, I went to two stores, one of which was Costco.  Again, 50% of customers still wore masks.  At my work, I was pleased to see that almost no one was still wearing a mask.

The sad part seems to be the public schools.  The State Superintendent of Public Instruction made masks optional two weeks ago.  Almost immediately, the very powerful Teachers Union pushed back, claiming that the children would not want to remove their masks.  The teachers have been the group who has most pushed for the most onerous restrictions on staff and student behavior, demanding both mask and vaccine mandates for everyone.  In a previous post (see below) I detailed how the teachers thought the students would find being masked “normal” and would object to being allowed to remove the masks.

Today, there is an article in the local press entitled “Washington schools discuss dropped mask mandate’s impact on staffing, student learning”.   Here are some quotes from that article.

Officials with Nelson Elementary School in the Bethel School District said about 75-percent of staff and students took their masks off for the first time in two years Monday, the first day masks were made optional in Washington public schools.

Principal Tami Nelson said it’s a big help for student learning, especially at the elementary level.

So one elementary school in a suburban area south of Seattle found that staff and students liked being able to see each others’ faces.  Funny thing!  Now, closer to Seattle:

But some schools are seeing people choose to stay masked up, for now, like at Pine Tree Elementary in Kent.

“I think the multi-generational households may be a part of that and not everybody has had the access to vaccinations,” said Julia Phillips, fourth grade teacher.

And I charge BS on the italicized portion of that quote.  Everyone who wishes to be vaccinated, everywhere, can get vaccinated if they want to.  No one, but No One, lacks “access to vaccination”.  Then, of course, you have Seattle.

In Seattle, KOMO saw plenty of students at Franklin High School still wearing them, even outside.

“By taking away the mask mandate it feels like the people in charge just don’t care about our safety,” said sophomore Marigold Wong.

Wong is among the Seattle students who will be participating in next week’s Seattle Student Union-led walkout in an effort to make masks mandatory again district-wide, even as COVID-19 case numbers drop.

“Lower the risk of COVID-19 much as we can because we’re in this space for so long,” Wong said.

This point of view is quite unfortunate.  These kids firmly believe that the Government must Protect Them from anything that might harm them, going so far as to demand mask mandates!  Just wearing masks themselves isn’t enough, but everyone must be required by the All-Powerful Government to wear masks.  Life must be made risk-free, even if liberty is dispensed with.  These are supposedly smart kids, but they have been thoroughly brainwashed by the Health Nazis.

So, in the Seattle area, when the chains are loosened, many of the people insist on continuing to walk around in the chains of their oppression.  These are no longer Free Citizens.  They are Slaves, willing slaves.