Republicans in the Assembly want California Gov. Gavin Newsom to end the pandemic state of emergency.

To make their point on Thursday, the caucus donned masks featuring the now-infamous snapshot of a maskless Newsom with Magic Johnson at the NFC title game in Inglewood.

“Does it make sense to host Super Bowl 2022 under a ‘state of emergency’… think about it,” tweeted Assemblyman Devon J. Mathis of Porterville on his personal account.

The Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals meet Sunday in Super Bowl LVI,  also at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Chances are that the state’s Democratic politicians, who almost universally support the pandemic mandates, will keep their masks on at the Super Bowl.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and San Francisco Mayor London Breed also caught heat for posing for pictures without masks on at the NFC championship. Garcetti later said he holds his breath during pictures so as to not risk spreading COVID-19.

No Plans to Market the Masks

According to Politico’s Susannah Luthi, the GOP lawmakers don’t plan to market the Newsom-Johnson masks.

But Assembly GOP spokesman Jim Stanley said that “if some other enterprising person sees it and runs with it, I wouldn’t be shocked.”

Newsom said Wednesday that state health officials would soon roll out a new approach to dealing with the pandemic.

With the omicron variant surge easing, Newsom said revisions to school mask requirements are coming no later than Monday.

Governors in New Jersey and other states this week moved to ease those mandates.

Sweet masks, huh? We’d love for @GavinNewsom to explain how it’s OK for him to ignore his own mandate and let CA host the #SuperBowl but his one-man rule must not be questioned. It’s long past time we end the state of emergency. pic.twitter.com/mX6GABI6AG

— California Assembly Republicans (@AsmRepublicans) February 10, 2022