As Covid cases rise across California, the Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass announced that city officials were exploring the legality of wearing masks at demonstrations.

The announcement came as a response to a pro-Palestinian protest outside a Los Angeles synagogue that made international headlines.

Bass, a Democrat, said at a press conference with local Jewish leaders on Monday that she would be seeking “several points of clarity” from the city attorney “around what are the parameters with protests: when permits are needed, whether or not people should be masked, and establishing clear lines of demarcation between what is legal and what is not.”

The move represents a stark reversal from 2020, when public health officials urged protesters to wear masks, and Democratic politicians embraced mask-wearing, while Donald Trump and many Republicans rejected masks and other public health measures.