Feb 1, 2024 02:22 AM
Science won't stop Rhode Island from resuming mask mandate on kids: proposed regulation
https://justthenews.com/government/court...regulation
INTRO: Rhode Island convinced parents last month to drop their 2021 lawsuit against its gone-but-not-forgotten COVID-19 mask mandates in schools by pledging to hold public hearings should it seek to reimpose them.
Now the Ocean State is proposing a health regulation under which it could force kids to mask up again without justifying it through scientific evidence, allegedly violating the dismissal stipulation that ended the case Dec. 13.
Plaintiffs' attorney Greg Piccirilli, known for getting teachers reinstated after they were fired for refusing COVID vaccination, threatened to seek contempt of court against the state when he received the proposed regulation that is now pending at the Office of Regulatory Reform.
The new language is "not what we agreed to" in settlement discussions going back to last spring and as recently as Jan. 3, and "I have never seen it worded this way," Piccirilli wrote to his counterpart at the office of Attorney General Peter Neronha, calling it a "bait and switch."
Piccirilli singled out revised provision 4.3B: "An absence of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of face masks against a specific pathogen will not prevent the [Rhode Island] Department [of Health] from considering a face mask requirement."
"Seriously, who at RIDOH thought it was good to include this language?" he asked. "It is already being mocked mercilessly."
Piccirilli demanded the reinstatement of the agreed-upon language.
RIDOH public information officer Joseph Wendelken confirmed the proposal is under review at ORR but didn't answer Piccirilli's allegation that it violated the dismissal stipulation.
Stanford medical professor Jay Bhattacharya joined the mocking Thursday, comparing Rhode Island's proposal to the "Indiana Pi Bill" that would have redefined the mathematical constant as 3.2 in the Hoosier State. It passed the House unanimously in 1897 but died soon after... (MORE - details)
https://justthenews.com/government/court...regulation
INTRO: Rhode Island convinced parents last month to drop their 2021 lawsuit against its gone-but-not-forgotten COVID-19 mask mandates in schools by pledging to hold public hearings should it seek to reimpose them.
Now the Ocean State is proposing a health regulation under which it could force kids to mask up again without justifying it through scientific evidence, allegedly violating the dismissal stipulation that ended the case Dec. 13.
Plaintiffs' attorney Greg Piccirilli, known for getting teachers reinstated after they were fired for refusing COVID vaccination, threatened to seek contempt of court against the state when he received the proposed regulation that is now pending at the Office of Regulatory Reform.
The new language is "not what we agreed to" in settlement discussions going back to last spring and as recently as Jan. 3, and "I have never seen it worded this way," Piccirilli wrote to his counterpart at the office of Attorney General Peter Neronha, calling it a "bait and switch."
Piccirilli singled out revised provision 4.3B: "An absence of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of face masks against a specific pathogen will not prevent the [Rhode Island] Department [of Health] from considering a face mask requirement."
"Seriously, who at RIDOH thought it was good to include this language?" he asked. "It is already being mocked mercilessly."
Piccirilli demanded the reinstatement of the agreed-upon language.
RIDOH public information officer Joseph Wendelken confirmed the proposal is under review at ORR but didn't answer Piccirilli's allegation that it violated the dismissal stipulation.
Stanford medical professor Jay Bhattacharya joined the mocking Thursday, comparing Rhode Island's proposal to the "Indiana Pi Bill" that would have redefined the mathematical constant as 3.2 in the Hoosier State. It passed the House unanimously in 1897 but died soon after... (MORE - details)