Thread by @mtracey

Kitchen Worker Not Wearing A Mask Properly? The Nuisance COVID Fines That Have Crushed Small Businesses mtracey.substack.com/p/kitchen-work…

Somerville, MA officials have gone around to restaurants examining the positioning of face masks on kitchen workers and handing out $300 fines if the positioning is deemed to be improper

I’m trying to get as much info as possible on how COVID rules have been enforced on a ground-level. How many violations issued, across how many jurisdictions, for what offenses, etc.? It’s a huge subject but the data is really difficult to access; media is largely uninterested

It’s also probably good not to go only by your own anecdotal experience. I found thousands of summonses issued in one city between March and May of last year for offenses like “not wearing a mask” and “failure to socially distance” mtracey.substack.com/p/new-document…

https://twitter.com/anti_minotaur/status/1404220796420210688

I wouldn’t necessarily call these kinds of enforcement actions “tyrannical” or get too hyperbolic about it. What stands out is the arbitrariness and stupidity. Like certain govt. officials felt they needed to “do something” even if the end result was just to create a nuisance

The perennial “do something” impulse of policymakers has led to all kinds of bad outcomes. Sometimes you really can’t “do anything” except create a nuisance, which doesn’t improve public health. It just makes people aggravated by the nuisance you created

In affluent Dem enclaves like Somerville, officials are likely reacting to what they perceive their constituents to want. If the constituents want their local government to "do something," the officials will "do something" even if it just causes a nuisance

https://twitter.com/zerothat/status/1404263940687745024