OAKLAND, Calif. — The Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors has voted to reinstate a mask requirement on trains and station platforms. Thursday’s decision was effective immediately and will remain in place until July 18, KNTV reports.
“I strongly support requiring a mask to ride BART to keep all our riders safe,” Rebecca Saltzman, BART’s board president, said in a statement. “I’m especially concerned for our riders who are immunocompromised, people with underlying health conditions, and children under the age of five who are not yet eligible for vaccination.”
BART offers masks at all agent booths. The agency’s police will offer masks to anyone who needs one before taking enforcement actions which can include citations of as much as $75 or removal from the passenger area.
When Philadelphia reimposed its mask requirement, SEPTA, a five-county agency, declared itself Federally regulated and held that Philadelphia’s mask requirement was superseded by the Federal ruling. Thus, no mask required on SEPTA.
Philadelphia dropped the mask requirement after four days.
The stupidest part of this article is the following statement from the Director on the BART Board: “I strongly support requiring a mask to ride BART to keep all our riders safe,” Rebecca Saltzman, BART’s board president, said in a statement. “I’m especially concerned for our riders who are immunocompromised, people with underlying health conditions, and children under the age of five who are not yet eligible for vaccination.” Those are the exact people that will PROTECT THEMSELVES, they do NOT need to be protected from others as they are responsible enough to protect themselves because they have to live with this their whole lives.
I wonder how many non masked people who have gotten sick wish they had been masked? Those who are masked wonder how many infections they avoided but can never know.
I guess I don’t understand why people get so worked up over masks. Wearing one just never has seemed like a big deal to me. I guess people need to toughen up…
Yes, this action by the BART Board of Directors ought to do wonders to revive ridership & encourage folks to “ride transit” again.
Nevermind the crime wave on BART that they’ve failed to address and is getting worse.
Nanny state lunacy indeed …….
Nanny states and jurisdictions.
Am I the only one to notice that the cities or counties with the worst crime probems are also the ones with the mask requirements?
In my own state, that would be crime-ridden Milwaukee County, which finally dropped the mask requirement but which did mandate masks long after the rest of the state had laughed them off.
So two reasons not to visit SanFran, crime and masks.
Population density?
BART is NOT San Francisco…the city and county of San Francisco do NOT have a mask requirement at this time…most of the Bay Area doesn’t as a matter of fact…and crime isn’t any higher than any other big city, based on FBI stats.
There does appear to be some correlation between fully prosecuting defendants, lower levels of policing and mask requirements. All three three do have one thing in common: they are not working very well.