CA Gov. Newsom Tells Diners to Wear Masks “In Between Bites” When Dining Out with Family

People want to be responsible.

But people also want the freedom to make their own responsible choices.

CBS News confirms the radical mandate:

The California governor's office put out a tweet on Saturday advising that restaurant-goers keep their masks on while dining. "Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend?" the tweet reads. "Don't forget to keep your mask on in between bites. Do your part to keep those around you healthy."

In California, masks are required for anyone going outside their home, as well as workers in customer-facing businesses, offices, factories, and health care professionals, among others, according to the state's COVID-19 guidance.

While children under 2 years old and those with breathing troubles or medical exemptions do not need to wear a mask, everyone else is required to wear them in all indoor public places — and also outdoors if keeping 6 feet of social distance with others isn't possible.

The official guidance does say that masks can be removed for a number of reasons, including eating or drinking. However, the tweet from Governor Gavin Newsom's office offered somewhat different advice, which confused some Twitter users.

"I'm very confused by this tweet. The image suggests you should only take your mask off once when you begin a meal but the text suggests you should put it back on between bites," journalist Matthew Fuhrman wrote, referring to the graphic shared in the tweet.

"Should we wash our hands after touching our mask each time we remove it between bites? What if I'm eating chips and salsa and I go for a double dip? Is that technically two bites since it's the same chip?" another person asked.

"This violates the @WHO 'Dont's of Mask wearing,'" another person tweeted, including a graphic from the World Health Organization which advises people to avoid touching their mask as much as possible, and to wash their hands before touching their mask and after discarding it.

CBS News has reached out to the governor's office for more information on the guidance in the tweet.

It will be interesting to see if other Democratic governors attempt to push a similar mandate.

So far, the new order has been met with backlash.

There has been a lot of confusion over Governor Newsom's mandate.

However, it appears as though the state has yet to answer any questions raised by the people and the press.

Fox News has more details on the situation:

The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom has told residents in the Golden State that if they go out to eat, they should be wearing a mask “in between bites” to protect themselves from COVID-19.

“Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend?” an Oct. 3 tweet from the governor’s office says. “Don't forget to keep your mask on in between bites.”

For emphasis, the tweet shows an image of someone at a dining seat wearing a mask, then not wearing a mask while taking a bite, and then putting the mask on again.

However, the image then advises people to "minimize the number of times you take your mask off."

California has allowed limited indoor dining to resume in a number of counties. San Francisco allowed indoor dining last week at 25% capacity.

California has had more than 800,000 cases and more than 16,000 deaths due to the virus.

Numerous health experts have said that masks can reduce the spread of the virus, but when it is appropriate or possible to wear a mask is frequently a topic of debate.

Conservatives have accused Democrats of over-reaching mandates.

This latest order from Gavin Newsom appears to prove just that.

California still has some of the strictest lockdowns in the country.

Yet... their case numbers continue to go up.

The numbers speak for themselves.