On Thursday, an association of Los Angeles County business groups called on health officials to renounce another universal COVID-19 indoor mask mandate.

The association says the mandate would be “heavy-handed” and a burden on businesses. If the mandate is reinstated, businesses will likely be forced to comply with it, even if they don’t want to.

The founding CEO of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, Tracy Hernandez, said:

“This is not a debate about choosing between lives and livelihoods … This is a discussion about educating and empowering Angelenos to make smart choices about protecting their health, our workers and the region’s collective ability to weather this latest wave of infections. We can do better than a heavy-handed mandate at this stage of pandemic recovery and endemic recalibration.”

“Doctor” Barbara Ferrer has been planning to reinstate Los Angeles County’s mask mandate for some time now, but it seems more than a bluff since business groups are calling on health officials to forget about it. They are encouraging voluntary mask-wearing.

It’s worth noting that neighboring counties — Orange and Riverside — will not reinstate their mask mandate. It seems evident that Ferrer and the Board of Supervisors are not following the science.

Only one Supervisor — Kathryn Barger — said she was against reinstating the mask mandate. She urged Ferrer to reach out to businesses to discuss the mandate. Ferrer said:

“Our hope is people will go ahead and make every effort to come into compliance … Spread is super high everywhere … We have lots and lots of outbreaks, so we are going to ask that everybody go ahead with indoor masking.”

The Board of Supervisors appointed Ferrer, and she is not a medical doctor.

RedState’s Jennifer Van Laar broke a massive story about Ferrer and her daughter, who is also not a doctor. You can read it here.

As we reported, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has too much authority over the citizens, and this is a prime example of that authority. Ferrer and her people are not following the medical science because the medical science did not change, as every other county in Southern California has not implemented a mandate — but for Ferrer and the Supervisors, the political science has changed.

Seventy-two percent of Los Angeles County residents are fully vaccinated, and 40 percent have at least one dose of the booster shot. It is long past time for the County to put the mask mandate behind them. Those who want to wear a mask should be able to. Those who don’t want to wear it should not be forced to.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Los Angeles is home to more minority and women-owned businesses than any in the nation. We've got to protect our small businesses, which ensures prosperity for all Angelenos. #CarusoCan pic.twitter.com/BXz17dp9qj

— Rick J. Caruso (@RickCarusoLA) April 26, 2022

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, 40 percent of small businesses in California permanently shut down.

In the state, there are 4.1 million small businesses that represent a whopping 99.8 percent of all businesses in the state and employ 48.5 percent of Californians.

The overwhelming majority of businesses in Los Angeles County are small businesses. A mask mandate is the last thing citizens of Los Angeles want, especially something that small business owners don’t want or need.

Maybe instead of unelected officials like Ferrer making decisions on their own, they should listen to the citizens and small business owners.