Two days before a scheduled court appearance, Thurston County has scrapped its controversial surgical mask requirement rather than even defend it.

“(Acting Thurston County Health Director) Diana Yu said this edict would be in place until the COVID-19 virus was eliminated,” said Shella Sadovnik, litigation counsel for the Freedom Foundation, which filed a lawsuit and motion for a preliminary injunction challenging the regulation on June 17.

“I’m not sure she realizes the Spanish Flu is still around 102 years after it was first reported,” she said. “But the mask requirement in Thurston County didn’t even last a month.”

Yu announced on May 27 that surgical masks would be required in every public venue in Thurston County for all residents over the age of 4, prompting the Freedom Foundation to file its lawsuit and motion.

“Dr. Yu, an unelected county official, overstepped her authority to impose an order that violates the state and federal Constitutions,” Sadvonik said. “The Freedom Foundation just saved Thurston County residents and their kids, grandkids and great grand-kids the necessity of wearing masks well into the next century.”