My beat for my Social Media class is the broad topic of COVID-19 regulations. This can be anything from mask mandates, to vaccine requirements, to mandatory testing for unvaccinated individuals. I am interested in this topic as it is the most pressing issue we see in society today due to it conflicting with individual freedom in America. The past two years we have seen unprecedented regulation not only the United States, but the world as a whole in attempting to stop the spread of viral infections.
The extremes we have seen governments go to for the purpose of slowing the spread is terrifying. We would not know the depths of these realities without fearless journalists risking their freedom and safety from their own government to spread the word. There has not been much compromise on these issues, rather two polar opposite viewpoints clashing for power. This led some states to open up early and other states to stay closed, both receiving a lot of public backlash from the opposing viewpoint.
This is a very politicized topic with some people arguing from the perspective of the overall public good, that your individual choices should not be putting others at risk of infection. On the other hand, you have the perspective of individual liberty being essential to a free state, that the choice to make decisions for yourself will in-turn benefit everyone.
We have seen demonstrations in the US for mask and vaccine requirements, Australia for travel restrictions within their own country, and Canadian truckers against vaccine and quarantine requirements crossing the US/Canada border.
In the last couple weeks, we have finally seen many states, California included, drop its mask mandate: (https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/02/28/governors-newsom-brown-and-inslee-announce-updated-health-guidance/)
With these newly updated policies, many businesses have dropped the requirements of wearing a mask to enter their establishment. It is interesting to see how some businesses require masks when told to by the government, while others do not. Now, it will be interesting to see which businesses still require masks without the government forcing them to do so. Each business is free to make their own rules, who still enforces mask requirements upon entry?
I plan on walking into every business in the Orange circle, working my way to hitting every store within a 0.5 mile radius of the Orange Circle. According to Google Maps, there are 183 places of business I will be entering to ask questions and attempting to interview the manager of the establishment. 45 businesses to the west, north, and east of the circle, and 48 businesses to the south. I will be marking down data with every business I enter to cross check Google Maps as well.
My goal is to get raw data on which businesses enforce masked entry without it being a government mandate, if they have recently changed their policies due to the change of governmental regulation, and if they have been relaxed with enforcing it over the past few months. In my personal experience in the city of Orange, there are hardly any businesses over the past few months who have enforced masked entry. I am curious to ask business owners how they have handled the heavily politicized pandemic to prioritize profit.
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