Why are states dropping mask mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions? – Everett Post

By MARLENE LENTHANG, ABC News

(AUSTIN, Texas) – Several states dropped statewide mask mandates and eased coronavirus restrictions last week.

Texas and Mississippi announced Tuesday that companies are at full capacity, and are joining forces with Republican-led states of Iowa, Montana and North Dakota to close statewide requirements for face coverings.

Local lawmakers have cited declining COVID-19 cases and hospital stays, and many have argued that their decisions are aimed at restoring power and freedom to their constituents.

But Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, described the reopening Thursday on CNN as “bad advice.”

He said restrictions in the US should not be lifted until new coronavirus cases nationwide fall below 10,000 a day “and maybe significantly less”.

The United States recorded a moving average of 62,555 new COVID-19 cases per day on Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The last time the US saw fewer than 10,000 cases was March 22, 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University.

It’s too early to say whether these lifted restrictions will lead to a spike in some cases, though experts are concerned. Other heads of state hold it up. West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said mask mandates should not be overturned as it would be viewed by some as “macho”.

“I don’t really know what the big rush to get rid of the masks is because those masks have saved many – many – lives,” Justice told CNN on Thursday.

The judiciary said there had been no discussion of lifting the mask mandate in his state.

“In West Virginia, we wanted to be careful, safe, and respectful of all rights,” he added. “I’m not going to dance like a politician because I am not.”

Texas governor Greg Abbott announced that his state’s mandate will end on March 10th. He said Texans “no longer need a government to rule our lives.”

Abbott told ABC Houston Station KTRK Thursday that the decision was a “product of the data we saw.”

Thursday was the lowest positivity rate and number of hospitalizations since October, and more than half of Texas 65 or older received at least one vaccine, Abbott said.

Abbott added that he would still wear a mask and encouraged his constituents to do so. Texans, he added, “know what to do.”

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves also cited falling hospital stays and case numbers and the introduction of vaccines in his decision to end a nationwide mask mandate.

President Joe Biden calls decisions to end mandates “Neanderthal thinking”.

“We just do things to empower our employees to do what they think is best for themselves and their families,” Reeves said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.

Some governors, easing nationwide restrictions, also allow local authorities and constituents to make their own decisions.

Kim Reynolds, governor of Iowa, lifted the mask mandate in February, saying, “We know what to do and it doesn’t require a government mandate.”

State mask mandates were allowed to expire in Montana and North Dakota, but local authorities can establish their own security protocols.

Alabama governor Kay Ivey announced Thursday that her state’s mask mandate ends April 9 and that face covering will be “a matter of personal responsibility.”

Over the past week, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Michigan, Louisiana, California and Connecticut eased coronavirus restrictions due to falling numbers of infections.

These restrictions included business capacity, curfews, social gatherings, and entertainment venues. These states have not changed their mask guidelines.

Fauci said that in order to reopen, he would like to have “a significant portion of the population vaccinated” and that restrictions should be relaxed gradually, not all at once.

“They don’t want to go from very strict public health restrictions to just turning them off and saying, ‘That’s it,” Fauci said.

According to CDC data, fewer than 9% of Americans were fully vaccinated as of Friday.