An arial photo of Utah’s Great Salt Lake and nearby waters near Promontory Point. A road bisects the photo and cuts through the saline valley. The text reads, “The Sick Times. As the American West faces increasing air pollution, protecting the right to mask is vital. By Amelia Diehl.”

“[Masking is] the most fundamental freedom one could think of — altering your behavior to protect your own health." - Brian Moench, executive director of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment

Masks have been an important tool to protect from wildfire smoke or allergy dust since before COVID-19 hit. Mask bans are not only dangerous for people with #LongCOVID but leave everyone more vulnerable to the harmful impacts of air pollution. Read more from @adiehl.bsky.social: bit.ly/3LVDusC

Thank you to The Sick Times team, especially my editors Betsy Ladyzhets and @mileswgriffis.bsky.social, and to everyone who spoke with me for this important story. Thanks for reading!

Mask blocs and other COVID justice organizations across the US West have been raising awareness about this overlap, making it clear that masks will continue to be vital forms of protection as the climate crisis intensifies.

Utah, California, and Texas – all states known for poor air quality – have recently proposed or considered mask bans, even when masks have been a vital tool to protect from air pollution since before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

From the toxic dust of the drying Great Salt Lake, to increased wildfires, chemical fires, allergens, and more, climate change is set to make air pollution worse, especially in the American West.

As the American West faces increasing air pollution, protecting the right to mask is vital - The Sick Times Utah’s proposed ban became an important case study demonstrating the overlapping concerns between airborne pathogens and environmental air pollution. It highlighted the necessity of building coalition...

For my first piece in @thesicktimes.org, I wrote about why mask bans matter for climate politics.

thesicktimes.org/2025/11/07/a...

As the American West faces increasing air pollution, protecting the right to mask is vital - The Sick Times Utah’s proposed ban became an important case study demonstrating the overlapping concerns between airborne pathogens and environmental air pollution. It highlighted the necessity of building coalition...

NEW: High-quality masks are vital in the present & future of the American West. They don't just protect us from COVID, they help protect us from other pathogens, toxic dust, wildfire smoke, and more 😷

@adiehl.bsky.social reports for @thesicktimes.org!

thesicktimes.org/2025/11/07/a...

Many medical supplies are manufactured outside of the US. I would buy additional KN95, N95 and KF94 masks now, as well as any medical supplies you regularly rely on. Even basics like bandages, Aquaphor, medicated lotion and pimple patches. Order that stuff asap.

Sending love to everyone in Wisconsin who showed up to stop Musk from buying another election. This was so important and y'all did it. ❤️

@longcovidadvoc.com @longcovidsupport.bsky.social @cleanairclub.bsky.social @togetherwemask.bsky.social @covidactionmap.bsky.social @thewhn.bsky.social @covidsafecampus.bsky.social @covidsafersf.bsky.social @maskblocla.bsky.social @covidsafecolorado.bsky.social @fanfavoritesd.bsky.social

I’m writing about #maskbans & air pollution in US West for @thesicktimes.bsky.social. Looking for folks who can speak to that intersection: people w/ #LongCOVID and COVID-conscious people also impacted by air pollution (inversion, Valley Fever, wildfires, etc). Reach out to amelia.diehl at gmail.

Defend the liberty of a stranger as you would defend your own, or that of a loved one, because that is what's actually on the table—whether we are a society that will sit still as our neighbors are snatched in the night, and disappeared into darkness, or a society that will fight for each other.

It’s terrifying to be in Elon Musk’s crosshairs. I’ve spent the last 48 hours dealing with the aftermath of these tweets. Everything he has said about me and Troublemakers is an outright lie.

The right to protest is at the heart of American democracy. Join a #TeslaTakedown protest. ✊❤️

Utah Lawmakers Tried to Pass a Mask Ban. Almost Overnight, Utahns Resoundingly Rejected It. At the beginning of a busy Utah Legislative session that would ultimately include bill proposals attacking trans rights, public sector unions, abortion, and mail-in voting, among other issues, another...

Utah just tried to pass a #maskban, as part of a nationwide wave to repress Palestinian resistance & criminalize disability.

1 in 12 Utahns have Long COVID & the state has some of the worst air quality in the country. Read about what happened:

contextcollapse.substack.com/p/utah-lawma...

Utah Lawmakers Tried to Pass a Mask Ban. Almost Overnight, Utahns Resoundingly Rejected It. At the beginning of a busy Utah Legislative session that would ultimately include bill proposals attacking trans rights, public sector unions, abortion, and mail-in voting, among other issues, another...

I wrote about Utah's attempt to pass a mask ban - and how Utahns rose up against it.

This repressive bill would have had drastic consequences for Utahns protecting themselves from COVID, free speech -- and also the state's uniquely poor air quality.

contextcollapse.substack.com/p/utah-lawma...

this denial of empathy/shared fate is politically useful. consider how “the end of the pandemic” was produced—a combination of cutting public programs and resources and “you do you” propaganda that had people acting like other people masking somehow hurt them

So has anyone written the Severence (Apple TV) / Doppelgänger (@naomiaklein.bsky.social) thinkpiece yet?

Doubles, mirror world, deep psychological motivations of policies, capitalist alienation from labor etc etc

HAPPENING NOW: Hundreds of union members in the Utah State Capitol rotunda protesting the union bill, calling on Governor Spencer Cox to veto it. #utpol

"Coup Klux Klan" feels like a keeper

Breaking news: State attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Vermont, and Wisconsin advise Trump's EO banning trans care is unlawful, hospitals should provide care.

Big counter salvo!

for sale: checks & balances, never used

Thank you! Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of good secure tools journalists (or anyone) can use?

Abbott asks who wants to make public comment. Several people raise their hands, including several wearing masks.

Abbott clarifies that the masking ban is no longer part of HB312. Says he is an attorney, and that there's a saying that if you're ahead, sometimes it's better not to say anything.

After Lisonbee introduces other items in HB312, committee asks questions.

Grant Miller, Dem Rep: "I've received more emails than I can ski on about the mask ban. The second sub that we're considering does not contain a mask ban, correct?"

Lisonbee: "That's correct."

Lisonbee claims that committee has removed mask ban language from HB312, but updated language has not been published on website. Unclear if a mask ban amendment could be included in a different bill.

le.utah.gov/~2025/bills/...

BREAKING: UT leg apparently removed mask ban language from criminal amendment.

"For all the people that are here to talk about the masking language in the bill, it's no longer in the bill. So there you go. I tried to email back everyone that emailed me." –Rep Karianne Lisonbee, HB312 sponsor

At 2:26, Chair Abbott announces going back to Lisonbee's sponsored bill, HB312.

After some delay, Rep Lisonbee HB312 sponsor, takes the mic and looks back at audience: "Are you guys talking about a super controversial bill today? There's a lot of people here today!"

Packed room in Utah Senate for committee hearing about proposed mask ban. After Chair Rep. Nelson Abbott skipped the proposed mask ban agenda item, because the sponsoring legislator was not present, the masked attendees have stayed. Unclear if or when HB312 will be addressed by committee.

Utah's proposed mask ban bill defines public place very widely, including “streets or highways; and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, public buildings, public facilities, transport facilities, and shops.” Wearing masks could be criminalized in these places.

Utah’s proposed mask ban is part of recent wave of similar bills being proposed and in some cases passed across the country, including in North Carolina and Nassau County, NY.

Legislators have been explicit that this type of legislation is intended to stop pro-Palestine protest.

#maskban #COVID