Fox host Charles Payne and VA Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears celebrated “freedom of choice” for parents to choose whether or not to have their children wear masks – without a moment of concern for the rights of parents to keep their children free from COVID-19.

Sears visited Fox News’ Your World show on Wednesday, in anticipation of a court ruling on Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “mask optional” order for schools.

Sears told Payne and the Fox viewers, “We’re just going to follow the law.” But, she added, “We’re expecting that we will prevail, and that the parents will be able to make the decision about the mask that the children should wear or should not wear. Imagine giving the parents the ability to make those decisions for their children! I mean what a concept!”

Payne smiled and chuckled with approval. Never mind the parents who want and need to keep their children safe from exposure.

As it turned out, Youngkin lost yesterday. In what The Washington Post called “a sharp rebuke,” a judge issued a restraining order against Youngkin’s order while the lawsuit against it, brought by seven school boards, proceeds. As for “just following the law,” Youngkin has vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it “just the first step in the judicial process,” the Post notes.

“If we can’t get anything through the legislature, then that’s what we have to live with,” Sears continued. “From what I understand, the law anyway that everybody is focusing on, that says we do have to follow the law in Virginia, which was based on Senate Bill 1303, from what I understand that expires in August.” She predicted, “One way or another, this mask mandate will come to an end, finally.”

Payne prodded Sears to make the public health issue more specifically political and divisive – by accusing school boards and supporters of masks of playing politics: “How much of this, though, is just really a sort of bitterness over losing the election?” He “asked.” “And again, I’ll get back to this point. I think the state made a loud and resounding message, not only to the folks there but to the rest of the country that parents want to be the ones who make the main decisions for what happens to their children, whether they wear masks or what they learn in school.”

Sears took the cue. “We told the voters exactly what we were going to do. We did not hide anything from them. We said that we were going to give the parents the option of choosing whether to mask or not, and now that we have won the election, imagine that you’re trying to fulfill your campaign promises!”

“These are the consequences of winning an election,” Sears continued. “We get to fulfill our word. … If you don’t want to mask, don’t mask them. I don’t understand how that impacts you at all.”

Sears is either stunningly ignorant or stunningly dishonest about the benefits of mask requirements. From CNN:

Studies that specifically look at masks show that outbreaks are far more likely in schools that don't require students and staff to wear masks, according to CDC studies from September. One study in Arizona showed that schools with no masking requirement were about 3.5 times more likely to have a Covid-19 outbreak than schools that had a universal masking requirement.

A second CDC study showed counties across the US where schools required mask use had less transmission of the virus in the community.

Payne said nothing to push back.

It’s bad enough that Fox is promoting the spread of illness in adults. It’s beyond unconscionable that it’s doing so in children.

You can watch Payne and Sears do so below, from the February 2, 2022 Your World.