Masking Up: A COVID-19 Face-off between Anti-Mask Laws and Mandatory Mask Orders for Black Americans

38 Pages Posted: 21 Sep 2020 Last revised: 20 Nov 2020

Date Written: September 18, 2020

Abstract

Mandatory PPE orders during COVID-19 have forced Black Americans to weigh the dangers of disease against the dangers of selective enforcement and racial profiling. In states with civil rights-era anti-mask laws, both wearing and eschewing masks could lead to police interaction. This Article argues that anti-mask laws were only superficially intended to protect Black Americans, continue to harm minorities during COVID-19, and should be repealed. It motivates this policy by empirically showing the ineffectiveness of anti-mask laws and the statistically significant relationships between PPE usage patterns and race. A revisionist legal history reveals anti-mask laws’ racist underpinnings, further motivating their repeal.
https://coviddynamic.caltech.edu/
https://osf.io/wjdrf/
https://www.californialawreview.org/covid-19-mask-orders-black-americans/

Keywords: PPE, anti-mask laws, police brutality, COVID-19

Suggested Citation

Lawrence, Caroline, Masking Up: A COVID-19 Face-off between Anti-Mask Laws and Mandatory Mask Orders for Black Americans (September 18, 2020). Caroline Lawrence & COVID-Dynamic Team, Masking Up: A COVID-19 Face-off between Anti-Mask Laws and Mandatory Mask Orders for Black Americans, 11 Calif. L. Rev. Online 479 (November 2020)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3695257 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3695257

Caroline Lawrence (Contact Author)

Yale Law School ( email )

127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06510
United States

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