- Video taken Saturday shows adults encouraging children to throw face masks into a fiery barrel.
- The video was taken at an anti-mask protest outside the
Idaho State Capitol Building in Boise. - Vaccinations are on the rise, but public
health experts stress the continued importance of masks.
Video posted Saturday showed adults encouraging children to throw face masks into a fiery barrel as part of an anti-mask protest outside the Idaho State Capitol Building in Boise.
"Not all at once," a person off-camera could be heard saying as a group of maskless children hurled masks into the flames by the handful.
About 15 seconds into the video, another off-camera individual tossed in a piece of cardboard, presumably to keep the flames alive as the kids continued tossing in disposable masks.
Throughout the video, the kids excitedly chanted, "Destroy them" and, "We don't want them in our lives."
"Smell the freedom, baby," one person said as the masks burned.
—Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
The burning was part of anti-mask protests that occurred throughout the state on Saturday, according to freelance news photographer Nathan Howard, who photographed the protest for Getty Images. According to Howard, similar demonstrations occurred in 20 cities in Idaho on Saturday.
The mask burnings were attended by both citizens and politicians, he said, including Idaho's Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. McGeachin's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment Saturday.
The event, including the viral clips of the mask burning, was documented on Twitter on Saturday by Sergio Olmos, a reporter with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Olmos reported about 150 people attended the Saturday mask burning event in Boise.
In one video, officers that appear to be with the Idaho State Police ask one woman to extinguish a fire. Protestors then plead with the officers to leave the woman alone.
—Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
A spokesperson for the Idaho State Police told Insider in a statement that approximately 100 people were present at the state capitol Saturday morning for a permitted event.
"During the event, an open flame was ignited in a barrel," the spokesperson said. "Those involved with the event were informed both before and during the event that open flames are not allowed on State Capitol grounds."
"The incident is under review," the ISP spokesperson added.
Since the outset of the pandemic, public health experts have agreed that widespread use of face masks in public spaces is imperative to preventing the spread of COVID-19. Even as the US sees fewer new daily cases from an all-time peak earlier this year, and as the vaccine rollout is accelerated, public health officials have stressed that it's too soon to give up face masks.
Still, some states, including Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana, and North Dakota, have bucked guidance and rescinded public mask mandates. There was never a statewide mandate in the state of Idaho, nor were there statewide mandates in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, or Tennessee, ABC News reported.
According to data analyzed by Johns Hopkins University, there have been 172,827 COVID-19 cases in Idaho that have resulted in 1,876 known deaths. Over the past week, more than 24% of COVID-19 tests administered in the state returned a positive result, compared to the 4.2% positivity rate nationally over the past seven days.