Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatric, the Arizona Department of Health and Safety and the Maricopa County Department of Public Health  have all updated their guidelines to include universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status

OPINION COLUMN.  Governor Doug Ducey and a majority in the Arizona Legislature passed a law in July  that will become effective September 29. According to the Governor, the new law “does not allow mask mandates, vaccine mandates, vaccine passports or discrimination in schools based on who is or isn’t vaccinated.”   The law was demanded by a group of anti-mask Republican legislators, which led to a last-minute anti-science add-on to one of the state’s budget bills. The votes from the anti-maskers were needed, it is claimed,  if several of Ducey’s  most-favored  portions of the budget bill  were to  be blessed by their  approval.

Dr. Cadey Harrel, a family physician in Tucson and the Arizona leader for the Committee to Protect Health Care, said at a press conference Wednesday that:

“The decision to prohibit these schools from requiring masks be worn is quite reckless, dangerous and shortsighted. The decision is not informed by science or evidence.”

The Governor and the legislators who supported the new law join an historic group of ignorant politicians and religious leaders who clearly rejected science.  For example, recall that in the 17^th century Galileo had the audacity to  support the science-based theory of Copernican heliocentrism, which claimed the Earth rotated daily and revolved  around the sun.

 Galileo’s support of this  scientific theory was met with furious opposition from within the Catholic Church and was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615. (The Inquisition was a permanent institution in the Catholic Church charged with the eradication of heresies.) It concluded that Galileo’s science-based view on heliocentrism was foolish, absurd, and heretical because it contradicted Holy Scripture. Church teachings were  ignorantly based on the theory that the Earth, not the sun, was at the center of the universe.

Galileo later defended his scientific views in a 1632 writing, which was viewed by Pope Urban VIII and others as an attack on him and the Church.   He was tried in 1633 by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, and forced to recant his science and plead  guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. He was placed  under house arrest indefinitely by Pope Urban VIII.

So, in the 21^st century, as in the 17^th century, are we rejecting science? Twenty-first century science says mandatory in-door face mask mandates can help  protect students, staff, and community college visitors against the surging, easily spread  COVID-19.  Ignorance, in the guise of Arizona’s anti-science law on mandatory mask prohibitions, rejects the science.

While those who dare violate Arizona’s  law in order to better protect others will not be burned at the stake of suffer an inquisition,  they may have to defend in court a senseless cease and desist order (brought by the Governor) that demands they not follow the best scientific guidelines available to protect staff, students and visitors from possible death at the hands of COVID-19.  

 It sure looks like 17^th century ignorance is winning in its 21st century battle with  science  in  Arizona. The new Arizona law reads as follows:

 15-1650.05. COVID-19 vaccine; face covering; testing; mandate prohibition; exceptions [Effective September 29, 2021]

1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the Arizona board of regents, a public university or a community college may not require that a student obtain a COVID-19 vaccination or show proof of receiving a COVID-19 vaccination or place any conditions on attendance or participation in classes or academic activities, including mandatory testing or face covering usage, if the person chooses not to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination or disclose whether the person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, unless the vaccination or other mandateis required by the laws of this state.
2. A health care institution may require a student who participates in a clinical setting at the health care institution to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and be subject to regular health screenings and testing as determined by the health care institution. For the purposes of this subsection, “health care institution” includes a hospital, a nursing care institution, a residential care institution, an intermediate care facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities and a group home or other medical facility licensed pursuant to title 36.
3. A public university may require testing only if a significant COVID-19 outbreak occurs in a shared student housing setting that poses a risk to the students or staff. The university must receive approval from the department of health services before implementing the testing requirement.
4. This section does not apply to students who are engaged in research or testing that involves a live COVID-19 virus.