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At least 100 people gathered outside the state capital of Idaho on Saturday to burn masks, protesting measures to limit infections and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Some groups, mostly right-wing, say mask warrants are a restriction on their freedoms. Health experts say they are helping slow the spread of the disease.
More than 170,000 Idaho residents were infected with the virus last year and nearly 1,900 have died. Johns Hopkins University estimates the number of cases in the United States at nearly 29 million and the death toll at more than 523,000.
Videos posted on social media on Saturday showed adults in Boise encouraging children to throw masks into a fire. A child could be heard saying, “Here the fire, are you hungry?” Here is another mask.
Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little has never issued a statewide mask warrant, but seven counties and 11 cities have such warrants in place.
Visitors to the capital of Boise are encouraged to wear masks, but they are not mandatory and few Republican lawmakers wear them. A Republican introduced legislation on Wednesday banning mask warrants.
Other Republican-led states have decided to end their terms and reopen their economies, citing declining cases and increasing vaccine availability – an effort led by the federal government.
Amid warnings of a possible fourth wave of cases if public health measures are abandoned too soon, Joe Biden this week accused those Republican leaders of “Neanderthal thinking.” Republicans protested.
In Boise, a man identified as Darr Moon, an organizer of Saturday’s event, told reporter Sergio Olmos in images posted on Twitter: “I think people must realize that we are here today for curb the government, to reestablish our republican form of government, a government that has a balance between the branches.
“And we’re kind of convinced that we need a well-defined government, certain borders and that’s not what we have today.
As the event unfolded, Washington senators adopted a $ 1.9 billion stimulus and relief package intended to bolster the pandemic effort and revive the economy it has battered. Joe Biden praised the development and said he expects to sign the bill next week.
Moon also said the Boise event was representative of a “widespread popular uprising.”
Olmos too filmed one protester burns a mask with “Biden sucks” written on it, another burning a photo of “Sleepy Joe” and others refusing a police request to put out a fire.
Amid the backlash on social media, political scientist Ian Bremmer mentionned: “Burning ritualized mask in Boise wins this week’s award for acts of symbolic stupidity.”
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