Among the opposition public health faces this summer are the pro-bono legal services of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. Apparently the Delta Variant, enhancing its many lethal qualities, has engaged an attorney to insure its spread in Missouri. It is the first virus known to have its own legal representation.

Schmitt, acting to support the “Variant,” has sued the Columbia (MO) public schools for its mask mandate with the potential of a class action against all the public schools of Missouri. Previously he had sued to prevent a mask mandate for indoor activities in St. Louis County, where the County Council had already overruled County Executive Sam Page on his attempt to independently mandate masks [“SLPS OKs Vaccine Mandate,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8.25.2021].

“I am committed to fighting this kind of government overreach,” said Schmitt regarding the public school mandate for masks to prevent the spread of the virus. Schmitt’s lawsuit alleges that rules for masks are “arbitrary and capricious, that mandates applying to kids are “unlawful,” and that schools must abide by previous limits on public health orders approved by lawmakers in the spring. The White House did not let the Attorney General’s lawsuit go unchallenged, stating that it was “completely unacceptable.” The Variant was unavailable for comment.

Masks are proven to cut the virus’s spread among children if worn consistently, according to Dr. Jessica Snowden. a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital [“GOP, schools clash,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 21, 2021].  “She said the delta variant infects children more often and makes them sicker than last year’s variants.”

Although unavailable for comment, the Variant promptly sent a student home from St Louis Public Schools with an infection on Tuesday, one day after schools opened.  Clearly Variant prefers to express its position with actions, rather than words. In Georgia, where schools have been opened for two weeks or more without masking requirements,  more than 20 school districts were forced to halt in-person learning following virus outbreaks in the schools. Variant  was unavailable for comment.

“This year, you saw it very quickly,” said Jim Thompson, superintendent of schools in Screven County Georgia. “Kids in the same classroom, you’d have two or three in that classroom.

Thompson said the county’s 25-bed hospital was being overloaded by infections but what led him to send the 2150 students home was concern that he wouldn’t be able to staff the classes. [“Outbreak forces” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8.25.2021]

In Florida, Texas and Arizona where mask mandates have been prevented by state regulations, the “freedom-to-roam” for the Variant has been unchallenged compared to Missouri, where local public school mandates for children have forced it to summon legal assistance.  Fortunately Attorney General Eric Schmitt works pro bono for viruses, which have no known monetary resources.

Schmitt is running for the U.S. Senate vacated in 2022 by Roy Blunt and shows a penchant for high-profile lawsuits.  He has a lawsuit pending against China for initiating the spread of CoVid-19. In December he joined other states in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Then in May he sued St. Louis Country to block the county executive’s mask order. Variant has not indicated a preference for the Senate race, but doubtless prefers the “freedom-to-roam” candidates.

Missouri’s citizens are double-vaccinated at 44%, below the national average of 52%.  Governor Mike Parson has never advocated the use of mask mandates, but has left the choice to local authorities. “For people that live in those cities that want to live under those guidelines, that’s their elected leaders’ decisions,” the governor said in June.

That will not be the Governor’s call, if the Variant and Schmitt have their way.