Violet Affleck, the daughter of Hollywood A-listers Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, appeared before the United Nations in New York City on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old activist discussed the crucial role of masks and other preventive measures over five years after the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally altered life across the globe.
Violet was appearing as part of an event titled Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action.
Violet, a first-year student at Yale’s Davenport College, said that it was essential to remain wearing masks to curb the spread of COVID-19.
‘It is neglect of the highest order to look children in the eyes and say, “We knew how to protect you, and we didn’t do it,”‘ the Ivy League student said.
Violet said that the current generation was showing an alarming lack of responsibility in going back to business as usual, five years after the virus forced everyone indoors for months.
Violet Affleck, the daughter of Hollywood A-listers Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck appeared before the United Nations in New York City on Tuesday
Former couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner arrived on the red carpet for the 85th Annual Academy Awards on February 24, 2013 in Hollywood, California
‘For adults, the relentless beat of “back to normal,” ignoring, downplaying, and concealing both the prevalence of airborne transmission and the threat of Long COVID manifested in a series of choices,’ Violet told attendees.
She added that ‘our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes.’
The daughter of the Tinseltown staples said that young people have ‘lacked both real choice in the matter and information about what was being chosen for us.’
The Yale student wrapped up her speech to the audience at the UN in saying, ‘We can recognize filtered air as a human right as intuitively as we do filtered water.
‘We can create clean air infrastructure that is so ubiquitous and so obviously necessary, tomorrow’s children don’t even know why we need it.’
This past May, Violet authored an article published in Yale Global Health Review that was focused on Los Angeles’ organized response to COVID-19, as well as climate change.
Violet said eliminating the virus fully involves wearing masks; employers providing paid sick leave and universal healthcare to people; and taking environmental measures to keep air clean.
Violet also urged people to stay organized and distribute masks free of charge to people who are in need of them.
Violet said that ‘our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes’ in terms of major environmental decisions being made that are essentially irreversible
Violet was pictured with her dad Ben Affleck and his then-wife Jennifer Lopez in 2022 in Paris
Violet last year spoke in front of the LA County Board of Supervisors in an effort ‘to confront the long COVID crisis’ with demands on how to restructure things moving forward
‘In the same way that COVID-conscious and disabled people celebrate each chain of transmission broken,’ Violet wrote in the piece, ‘climate scientists recognize that each degree of warming we avoid will be a victory.
‘It’s time for everyone who cares about the latter to engage with the people, the methods, and the political commitments that make the former possible.’
Violet last year spoke in front of the LA County Board of Supervisors in an effort ‘to confront the long COVID crisis’ with demands on how to restructure things moving forward.
‘I demand mask availability, air filtration and Far-UVC light in government facilitates, including jails and detention centers, and mask mandates in county medical faculties,’ Violet told the board.
In the July 2024 meeting, Violet said that laws to suppress mandatory mask wearing causes ‘vulnerable members of our community’ to be ‘less safe’ and makes ‘everyone less able to participate in Los Angeles together.’
She added: ‘It stands to exacerbate our homelessness crisis, as well as the suffering of many people in our city. It hits communities of color, disabled people, elderly people, trans people, women and anyone in a public facing essential job the hardest.’
Violet also called on public officials to invest resources in Personal Protective Equipment ahead of a potential future pandemic.
‘You must expand the availability of high-quality free tests and treatment, and most importantly the county must oppose mask bans for any reason,’ Violet said. ‘They do not keep us safer.’
