Whether to wear face masks or not became a polarizing issue this election year — and during a Visalia Unified Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday night.  

Board President John Crabtree devalued face masks before verbally lashing out at fellow board member Lucia Vázquez over a Visalia Times-Delta interview in which she expressed concern about board members prioritizing their political agenda over children.

Crabtree’s comments troubled many Visalia residents watching the virtual meeting from home, according to social media posts. Residents worried about the health implications of Crabtree’s statement while others questioned its veracity. 

“There are hundreds of thousands of people who die from tuberculosis every year, and yet we don’t wear masks in order to prevent us from getting tuberculosis,” Crabtree claimed at the meeting. He then told a puzzled Vázquez his comments weren’t a “political decision.”