In a brief speech, Violet Affleck, the eldest child of Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, discussed her own “post-viral condition” and advocated for easier access to masks.
Last month, photographers snapped Violet Affleck, daughter of Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, strolling around Los Angeles with her mother. She frequently wears a N95 face mask in public, as seen in the pictures. Some people online have concerns, albeit it might not be noteworthy in and of itself.
Why Is Violet Affleck Consistently Dressed in Masks? One recent headline promised an explanation. According to the paper, she may have made her decision for privacy, “personal expression,” and an unidentified medical problem.
Ms. Affleck, 18, seemed to provide a response on Tuesday. Speaking at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting’s public comment period, she both explained why she wears a mask and called for increased accessibility for the general public to masks.
“In 2019, I developed a post-viral illness,” the woman stated. “I’m fine now, but I personally witnessed that medicine is not always able to address the effects of even small viruses.”
Speaking quickly—her entire statement took only 59 seconds to complete—Ms. Affleck spoke about the dangers of long-term COVID, a dangerous illness that is estimated to affect millions of Americans and can cause brain fog, chronic fatigue, and other health problems. Ms. Affleck, a recent high school graduate who seems to be headed to Yale in the fall, urged authorities to provide masks in jails, hospitals, and government buildings.
“In government facilities, including jails and detention centers, I demand mask availability, air filtration, and far UV-C light. In county medical facilities, I demand mask mandates,” she declared. “The county must oppose mask bans for any reason, and we must expand the availability of high-quality free tests and treatment.”
It’s unclear if this was Ms. Affleck’s first public discussion of her concerns with an elected body. Requests for response on Wednesday afternoon were not immediately answered by Ms. Affleck’s parents’ representatives.
Many people are still wearing masks to stop the virus’s transmission more than four years after the coronavirus epidemic devastated the planet, killing millions of people and forcing protracted lockdowns. However, the majority of people have returned to their usual, mask-free programming. It has been demonstrated that masks can prevent the spread of Covid-19 and other airborne viruses.
Prior to this discussion, Ms. Affleck’s worries regarding Covid were evident this year. In May, Ms. Affleck was photographed by paparazzi holding a mask and carrying Steven Thrasher’s book, “The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide,” which discusses how diseases disproportionately affect underprivileged populations. He shared the picture on X as well.
Last month, as Ms. Affleck was having lunch with her father’s wife, Jennifer Lopez, photographers caught her wearing a face mask. Additionally, she was seen with her father and Ms. Lopez at a Broadway show last year when a fan saw her wearing a N95 mask (albeit they didn’t seem to be mask-wearing).
Ms. Affleck might be reacting to a recent debate concerning possible mask bans, which municipal authorities nationwide have been considering due to worries that individuals are using them to hide their identities.
Citing a recent rise in antisemitism, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last month that she and her team were starting to think about reintroducing a prepandemic ban on face masks on the subway in order to curb crime.
In June, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared that, despite a recent spike in Covid cases in the region, authorities were considering the possibility of outlawing masks during demonstrations in reaction to pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city.
