Protestors in Idaho, including elected officials and minor children, burned face masks at a rally outside the state capitol building in Boise on Saturday, March 6.
Idaho’s Stay Healthy Order recommends wearing “a face covering over their nose and mouth in indoor public settings or in an outdoor public space where they are unable to maintain six-feet physical distancing.”
Photos and videos show residents tossing used face masks into roaring flames inside a barrel. Demonstrators gathered to burn masks in at least 20 cities across the state to protest COVID-19 restrictions.
Elected officials joined the demonstrators who cheered as protesters tossed their masks into the fire.
Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin and Republican lawmaker Heather Scott supported the demonstrators.
“Even if you don’t have a mask — because in my district a lot of people don’t wear masks — it’s still symbolic,” Scott said in a YouTube video. “It gets the word out to the governor that it’s time for this emergency order to end.”
In unrelated news, the CDC said people who are “fully vaccinated” can gather in “small groups” as long as they socially distance and practice good hand washing technique.
Some businesses say they will demand to see proof of vaccinations before a fully vaccinated person enters their establishment.
