Violet Affleck reveals she contracted post-viral condition in 2019, slams mask bans

Violet Affleck is getting involved in Los Angeles government — and revealing a private health battle.

The 18-year-old daughter of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner delivered remarks about COVID-19 pandemic precautions during the public comment section of a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday. She also shared that she suffered from a health issue five years ago.

"I contracted a post-viral condition in 2019," Affleck said. "I'm okay now, but I saw first-hand that medicine does not always have answers to the consequences of even minor viruses. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown that into sharper relief."

Affleck, who identified herself as a Los Angeles resident and first-time voter, did not provide additional details about the post-viral condition she contracted. But she went on to speak about the "devastating" nature of long COVID, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes as a chronic condition that is present for at least three months after a COVID-19 infection with symptoms that can last "weeks, months, or years."

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Telling Los Angeles officials that long COVID "can take away people's ability to work, move, see and even think," Affleck called for mask availability in jails and detention centers, mask mandates in county medical facilities and expanded access to free COVID-19 tests and treatments, among other demands. She also urged the county not to institute mask bans "for any reason."

"They do not keep us safer," she argued. "They make vulnerable members of our community less safe and make everyone less able to participate in Los Angeles together."

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In June, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass discussed the possibility of imposing a mask ban for protesters. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told USA TODAY that "bans on the use of masks strongly inhibit one of the options that public health has to reduce the impact of pandemics in our population."

Violet Affleck is Garner and Ben Affleck's oldest child, and she graduated from high school this year.

"Tell me you have a graduate without telling me you have a graduate. 🎓 (bless our hearts 🥺♥️😭)," Garner, 52, wrote on Instagram in May as she shared photos of herself looking emotional at the ceremony.

Affleck and Garner were married from 2005 to 2018, and they share three children. Since 2022, Affleck has been married to Jennifer Lopez.

Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas, Taijuan Moorman