In a move that is sure to cause an uproar in the defense community, Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order late Wednesday Night mandating that all workers’ compensation video depositions, trials, and tele-medicine QME examinations be conducted with masks on at all times.  Citing the various strains of the mutating COVID-19 virus, Governor Newsome announced that these new procedures will help contain the spread of infection “that is believed to be able to enter through the eyes.”

At the press conference, the Governor noted “if just seeing the virus is enough to spread it, a mask is the only way to keep the virus out of sight, even on the computer screen.”

By requiring a mask during these events, the executive order seeks to prevent a variant of the COVID-19 virus that might be digitally transmitted through the video screen.  Jack Sansone, Esq., of the California Anti-Fraud and Hoax Coalition, commented that such a requirement would prevent defense attorneys, medical-evaluators, and even trial judges from determining credibility of applicants with respect to testimony.  “How are we even supposed to confirm the identity of the person on the screen if their masks have to be on the whole time?”

Speaking for the defense community, your humble blogger is outraged.  At a time when cases are going down and there has not been a single proven case of ANY virus being transmitted over a video-conference, there seems to be absolutely no basis for this order. 

The date is highly suspicious as well – by announcing the new Executive Order after 5pm on a Thursday, the effective date of the Order becomes April 1, 2021. 

Your humble blogger sincerely hopes that common sense will regain control of the situation, and by Friday morning, the order will be lifted, rescinded, and that all traces of its existence will disappear so that we can return to our level of… well, if not sanity, then at least a lesser version of insanity.