Bill to ban mask mandates passes Idaho legislative committee

BOISE (AP) — A bill that would stop any government entity — including local school boards — from issuing a mask mandate passed an Idaho legislative committee on Wednesday.

The legislation is sponsored by St. Anthony Republican Rep. Karey Hanks, who has repeatedly tried to get a ban on mask mandates passed since the coronavirus pandemic began. Last year a similar ban from Hanks also made it out of the House State Affairs Committee but failed to win the support of the full Legislature.

The government should focus on securing individual rights and not “dictate health choices,” Hanks told the State Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning, shortly before the bill passed on a party-line vote.

“We’re at the point in Idaho where we’re more than ready to deal with whatever risks there are,” Hanks said.

One in every 136 people in Idaho tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, and the state ranks 17th in the country for new cases per capita. Idaho’s vaccination rates continue to lag behind much of the nation, with roughly 52% of the state’s population fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Stephanie Mickelsen, a potato farmer who serves on the board of trustees for the College of Eastern Idaho, urged the committee to vote against the bill, saying it “tie the hands” of people who are locally elected by their communities and prevents them from doing what they feel is best for their communities.

“Government closest to the people is best,” Mickelson said. “What happens if you have something that is even more significant than COVID in the future?”

Dr. Lynn Laird, a psychologist from Meridian, spoke in favor of the bill. Laird said wearing a mask is “traumatic” for some people, and the government shouldn’t be allowed to “dictate what people do with their own health.”

Rep. Vito Barbieri, a Republican from Dalton Gardens and a member of the committee, also spoke in favor of the bill and reiterated a claim that Hanks’ made when it was first introduced: “I am certain that if we had massive people dying in the streets because the disease is as virulent as it presents, we wouldn’t need a mask mandate,” Barbieri said.

At least 4,497 Idaho residents have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, according to numbers from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Dr. David Peterman, a pediatrician and the CEO of Primary Health Medical Group, wasn’t at the committee meeting but said in a phone interview Wednesday that removing the ability of schools to require masks would harm kids by increasing the likelihood that schools would again be forced to close.

There is no credible evidence to suggest that mask-wearing harms children or adults, but a wealth of data that shows masks effectively reduce the spread of COVID-19, helping to keep schools open, Peterman said.

“The American Academy of Pediatrics is the single most authoritative organization in caring for children, and it continues to unequivocally recommend wearing masks for children in school,” Peterman said. “We have examples here in Idaho where there were optional masks and as a result the schools needed to be closed.”