The constitution is being violated, and the man, Ralph Northam has violated his oath of office as governor by violating the unted States' Constitution, violating separation of powers, etc. Our government officials are elected to serve We, the People. Executive orders and these "state of emergency" powers are an abuse of power that many, many Virginians are not going to tolerate. Executive orders, decrees, even laws that are passed, if contrary to the Constitution (which is the supreme law of the land), are null and void. The executive branch and legislative branch are not one and the same, so the office of governor does not have the authority to act in this way. Medical mandates of any kind have no place in a free society. We have a constitutional Republic, which negates mob rule and protects the rights of the individual.
I, for one, am someone with a medical condition that should not be wearing masks, as are several other family members and some friends. Many people I know strongly object to the policies, and I feel awful for all the employees of various businesses who are being told they have to wear them. It is not healthy for people to be masked. Some people are having anxiety attacks, some are passing out, or getting dizzy/light-headed. Some people who have trouble wearing masks (including pregnant women) or those who are exempted by the executive order for medical reasons are being harshly judged and harassed by others who think it's selfish not to wear one. I'm sure it's awful to be deaf or hearing-impaired right now also, not being able to read others' lips to communicate clearly.
I have a college degree in a biological science field (and worked in pharma medical research) and have done lots of researching on this pandemic and mask-wearing, and it is not evidence-based to insist the general public wear masks. Basic microbiology would explain that a virus can easily pass through the fabric masks many people are wearing in public buildings, and even the surgical masks that are common now don't protect against the illness (the box even states this). I would have thought a doctor who is governor would pay attention to the actual science. The shutdown and mask policy and plans for schools in the fall are all ridiculous. Our hospitals are not overwhelmed, and the death rate is around 0.25%, maybe less for most. The detrimental effects to our economy were not justified. Here are just a few of many studies I came across in my searches, mostly from medical journals.
From the WHO: There is limited evidence that wearing a medical mask by healthy individuals in the households or among contacts of a sick patient, or among attendees of mass gatherings may be beneficial as a preventive measure.14-23 However, there is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking, can prevent them from infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/Masks don’t seem to impact family infection as much: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28039289
Cloth masks not effective relative to normal medical masks: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577.long
Cloth masks worse than surgical masks for anything <2.5 uM: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27531371Cloth masks not very efficient with small particles (in some cases negligible filtering):
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577.full: Laboratory tests showed the penetration of particles through the cloth masks to be very high (97%) compared with medical masks (44%) (used in trial) and 3M 9320 N95 (<0.01%), 3M Vflex 9105 N95 (0.1%)."Seventy percent of the patients showed a reduction in partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2), and 19% developed various degrees of hypoxemia. Wearing an N95 mask significantly reduced the PaO2 level"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15340662"Medical staff are at increased risk of getting 'Severe acute respiratory syndrome' (SARS), and wearing N95 masks is highly recommended by experts worldwide. However, dizziness, headache, and short of breath are commonly experienced by the medical staff wearing N95 masks. The ability to make correct decision may be hampered, too."
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00173017https://www.researchgate.net/…/7332926_Headaches_and_the_N9…
"Chronic hypoxia-hypercapnia influences cognitive function"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18331781
"Hypercapnia status has been shown to predict mild cognitive impairment https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35797-3
Chronic hypoxia – hypercapnia has been seen as a cause of cognitive impairmenthttps://www.atsjournals.org/…/fu…/10.1164/ajrccm.186.12.1307
Do what's right for the people of Virginia and announce that restrictions are over. We survived as a species for how many years without masks and biologics and as usual, the more infectious the disease is, the less virulent it becomes, b/c killing the host does not benefit it. Life will find a way and it is not our government's job to keep us "safe."