Noncompliance and Civil Disobedience

Beginning Monday, December sixth, a week of civil disobedience in objection to the newest string of Erie County Covid mandates began.

On November 23 a new string of mandates in Erie County, implemented by County Executive Mark Poloncarz, went into effect. To combat rising Covid cases in Erie County, Poloncarz started phase one of a four stage plan. This included mandating masks in all public areas of Erie County, with no vaccine exemptions. 

If numbers continue to rise, one of the next steps in his plan includes mandating vaccination for access to all public areas, and, if the situation requires, complete lockdown. 

Recently a group of small business owners and Erie County residents have started speaking out against and refusing to comply with the new mandates. This has included refusing to wear masks in public places, and for business owners, refusing to put up signs and notices requiring masks in their place of business.

Those fighting back against the mandate, such as Robert Dinero, the owner of a gym in Western New York, are also trying to get others to join in on their week of “Civil Disobedience” beginning Monday December 6, 2021. Protests in Niagara Square took place on Monday with hundreds joining in, pulling their kids out of school and taking off from work to add their voice to the crowd, demanding an end to the mandates. 

One student at Orchard Park, Harry Dann, expressed his opinion on the matter saying “I don’t think walking out is going to get the schools to change anything. It’s just gonna get students in trouble.”

More protests and civil disobedience are to take place later this week, with school walkouts taking place on Thursday, December 9th, and a few students showing up to school maskless the day after.

When asked about the maskless Friday, Matt Bouton said “Those who refuse to wear masks Friday will just face punishment, and nothings gonna change.”

It seems as though the general consensus among students is that the protests were ineffective and the movement does not have enough serious support.