City approves resolution to not enforce future COVID-19 mandates

Oct. 11—Three years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Bakersfield has adopted new rules saying it will not enforce future health orders related to masks, vaccines and social distancing.

In a 3-1 vote Wednesday, the City Council took the unusual step of approving a resolution, not an ordinance, to not enforce COVID-19-related mandates. Council members Eric Arias, Bob Smith and Manpreet Kaur were absent.

The resolution states that following "injustices in the form of overreaching government imposed mandates during the pandemic," the city will not enforce any COVID-19-related mandate or impose penalties where it has jurisdiction. This includes future requirements for masks, dining restrictions and vaccines.

Council members in support of the resolution rationalized their decision as a matter of autonomy over one's body, and the freedom to choose how one receives medical care.

"Because it's my choice, and it's your choice for the medical services you receive," said Ward 3 Councilman Ken Weir. "Don't feed it off to the government ... we've seen it happen."

The resolution came at Weir's referral, who reiterated sentiments he made at the Sept. 13 meeting, through allusions to unnamed papers and reports, that N95 masks and other mandates are "useless" in the face of a looming COVID-19 resurgence.

"There are cautions you should take before you indulge in an N95 (mask)," Weir said. "There are consequences of having that mask on, and if you want, I can read you some of those, but I don't think we need to do that."

Councilman Andrae Gonzales cast the lone dissent.

Turning to councilman Weir, Gonzales asked where this enthusiasm for the topic was three years ago, when state mandates first took effect amid a COVID-19 lockdown.

"Why now... why wasn't this coming up three and a half years ago?" Gonzales asked.

Gonzales questioned how the city would enforce the resolution, particularly around segment G of the resolution, which states that one person may not "take adverse action" or penalize another for not getting vaccinated.

"If an individual does not get vaccinated and there is an allegation that because you did not get vaccinated you therefore cause me to get COVID and I somehow suffered," explained City Attorney Virginia "Genny" Gennaro. "This could be used perhaps in that civil lawsuit as evidence one way or the other."

Additionally, the resolution only applies to city jurisdiction; schools and hospitals do not apply. Beyond that, as explained by Gennaro, the resolution has virtually no power.

"The point of it is, I'm not enforcing any mandate on those that decide not to get something done," Gennaro explained.

Following a series of questions and criticisms on the resolution, Gonzales concluded that the referral was a performative gesture, one that lacked precedent and served as a partisan distraction to more pressing issues.

"We have so many other issues to address that are more practical to the city," Gonzales said. "This is nothing more but a performance piece... no one is talking about shutdowns and I don't think this is necessary."

In response to Gonzales statements, Ward 6 Councilwoman Patty Gray said "there has been talk about federal mandates" in local news. She summarized Weir's statements as an effort to create a "free zone" where one can make their own medical choices.

"It's a matter of freedom of choice," Gray said. "I believe the constituents that voted for me, voted for me because I am one for freedom ... I speak to freedom."

At the peak of the pandemic, state and federal COVID-19 mandates restricted nearly every facet of regular life: indoor dining, public meetings, classroom instruction. Restaurants, especially downtown, took tables outside on the sidewalk, while council members deliberated over Zoom.

She harkened back to that time, amid her second City Council meeting in January 2021, when she took off her face mask mid-meeting so that she could "show her constituents who voted for me, to have freedom in this country."

"When the government begins to tell me how to handle our own body, our own health, our own decisions ..." Gray said, alluding to lower school test scores, the shuttering of small businesses and other issues that arose during COVID-19. "Is that where we want to go back to?"

This decision follows a summer bump in COVID-19 cases fueled by the hyper-infectious Omicron subvariants. According to Kern County Public Health Services' COVID-19 dashboard, there were more than 2,300 confirmed cases in Kern in August, compared to about 900 in July.

Currently in Kern County, 5.9% of COVID-19 tests come back positive — 21st statewide, according to state data. An average of 22 residents are hospitalized for COVID each week, including three in intensive care units, according to statewide hospital data.

Since California ended its state of emergency health order in February, there has been no notice of intention to reinstate any COVID-19-related mandates.

In a conversation with Kern Department of Health Director Brynn Carrigan prior to the meeting Wednesday, Gonzales said there was no instance where a person was compelled to get vaccinated by city government.

"Well that means absolutely nothing to me," Weir said.

According to city spokesperson Joe Conroy, city employees were never required to get vaccinated. The city, he added, does not track whether elected officials are vaccinated.