Violet Affleck, the daughter of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, who has attracted attention for frequently wearing a face mask in public, has called for masks to be made compulsory in Los Angeles hospitals “to confront the long COVID crisis.”
Affleck, 18, said, in a public representation to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors that she had contracted a long COVID-like condition in 2019 and that she believed that masks should be made available in government facilities. She also called for such facilities to use powerful “far-UVC light,” which has germicidal properties.
Governing authorities must resist “mask bans,” she said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Affleck, who wore a protective face mask, spoke during so-called “public comments,” where residents have the opportunity to address the board, the governing body for Los Angeles County.
Introducing herself, she said: “Hi, Violet Affleck, Los Angeles resident, first-time voter, I’m 18.”
She said: “One in 10 infections leads to long COVID, which is a devastating neurological and cardiovascular illness that can take away people’s ability to work, see, move, and even think. To confront the long COVID crisis, I demand mask availability, air filtration, and far-UVC lights in government facilities, including jails and detention centers, and mask mandates in county medical facilities.”
Affleck, who is reportedly headed to Yale University after graduating from high school in May, detailed her experience of contracting “a post-viral condition” in 2019. She said: “I’m OK now, but I saw firsthand that medicine does not always have answers to the consequences of even minor viruses.”
She argued that long COVID “stands to exacerbate our homelessness crisis, as well as the suffering of many people in our city. It hits communities of color, disabled people, elderly people, trans people, women, and anyone in a public-facing essential job the hardest.”
Affleck, the eldest of Garner and Ben Affleck’s three children, was seen wearing a mask while attending a Broadway show this year.
