'Real Time' host Bill Maher slammed mask mandates for school children on Friday, warning that such rules are creating a generation...
'Real Time' host Bill Maher slammed mask mandates for school children on Friday, warning that such rules are creating a generation of 'little germ-paranoid munchkins.'
Maher and the panel discussed the recent recall efforts in San Francisco against liberal district attorney Chesa Boudin, which ultimately led to the ousting of three 'woke' school board members for prioritizing issues such as renaming schools instead of reopening them over the student's well-being.
Maher asked Brooke Jenkins, the former assistant San Francisco district attorney leading the recall effort against Boudin, if it was 'about time to chuck' the mask mandates for kids, to which Jenkins agreed.
'Having a 5-year-old in school right now, I would like to see them go,' Jenkins told the panel.
'They don't need them,' Maher replied, in reference to the COVID-19 face coverings.
'I mean, kids are the least, least vulnerable. To make these little children into Howie Mandels is what you're doing,' he added. That was a reference to the America's Got Talent judge and St Elsewhere actor, who is a famed germaphobe.
Studies show that children are less likely to get sick than adults, and make up just 14 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the US but only 0.1 percent of all deaths.
'Real Time' host Bill Maher slammed mask mandates for school children on Friday, warning that such rules are creating a generation of 'little germ-paranoid munchkins'
Maher asked Brooke Jenkins, right, the former assistant San Francisco district attorney leading the recall effort against Boudin, if it was 'about time to chuck' the mask mandates for kids
'Having a 5-year-old in school right now, I would like to see them go,' Jenkins told Friday's panel
Liberal San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin speaks at a press conference
'No, it's true!' Maher said.
'You’re creating a generation of Howie Mandels, of little germ-paranoid munchkins. It’s so ridic.'
'It’s a huge chunk of their lives,' fellow panelist and CNN analyst John Avlon added.
'I mean, we’ve got young kids-'
'Especially when they’re young,' Maher exclaimed.
'I mean, that’s the first thing they remember and it’s going to get imprinted on them. I mean, kids are gross to begin with, you have to let them be gross… They need also to get germs in their body!'
'Up to a point,' Avlon noted.
'But it’s true!' Maher rebuffed.
The American Academy of Pediatrics released new guidance on Monday saying that all students above age 2 and staff in schools should wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Pictured: Students wearing face masks at St Joseph Catholic School in La Puente, California, November 2020
Masks in schools have become one of the most controversial remaining Covid policies in America, with parents and teachers largely divided on the issue
Covid cases are dropping in 49 of 50 states, with Maine being the only state suffering an increase. America is now a month removed from the surge reaching its peak of around 800,000 cases per day in mid-January and there is nothing to indicate that cases will not continue falling
Cases were down nationwide another 42 percent over the past week, with the U.S. now averaging 128,989 new cases every day
'It’s how you get healthy! It’s how you live with… You can’t live in a world by getting rid of all germs or avoiding them! It’s insane!'
States which continue to impose school mandates say they're doing so because vaccines are not yet available for under fives.
But many parents cite the extremely low risk of a COVID infection as reason not to have their youngsters vaccinated. Young boys also run the risk of potentially fatal heart inflammation as a side effect. And while rare, many families have decided they'd rather take their chances with a likely-harmless COVID infection than a potentially serious vaccine-induced heart condition.
Maher's panel comes just days after three woke San Francisco school board members who invested more time on social justice issues - like the botched renaming of 44 schools - instead of reopening them during the pandemic have been ousted in a rare recall election funded largely in part by Silicon Valley billionaires and millionaires.
In a hot-button election, 70 percent of parents in the liberal city voted to recall the board members on Tuesday, according to the San Francisco Department of Elections.
The school board has seven members, all Democrats, but only three were eligible to be recalled: school board President Gabriela López, Vice President Faauuga Moliga and Commissioner Alison Collins.
San Francisco School Board Commissioner Alison Collins was voted out during Tuesday's recall election
School Board President Gabriela López (left) and Vice President Faauuga Moliga (right), both Democrats, were ousted by parents angered over their prioritizing of progressive initiatives over school reopening
The effort was well-funded by some of Silicon Valley's billionaires and millionaires, led by early Apple investor Arthur Rock, who poured more than $500,000 of his billion-dollar fortune into the recall.
PayPal CEO David Sacks - who has three children and opposes mask mandates and school closures - donated $75,000, and venture capitalist Garry Tan donated $26,000.
Among parents' main frustrations were that the school board failed to address reopening schools during the pandemic, and instead focused their efforts on renaming 44 because they claimed they were named after 'problematic' American icons, like Paul Revere and Abraham Lincoln.
But committee members embarrassed themselves after it was revealed they did not consult historians and used inaccurate Wikipedia entries and other non-scholarly sources to determine which personalities were racist and problematic.
'The city of San Francisco has risen up and said this is not acceptable to put our kids last,' said Siva Raj, a parent who helped launch the recall effort.
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