After Mississippi and Texas lifted their face mask mandates orders, U.S. President Joe Biden fired back at their leadership, naming it Neanderthal thinking. Biden tells reporters at the White House that the final thing the administration is, meanwhile, Neanderthal thinking and face mask still matters, adding that it’s critical that they follow the science.
NEW: President Biden calls Texas and Mississippi decisions to end mask mandates “a big mistake” and criticizes what he views as “Neanderthal thinking” after CDC warned against complacency in the face of emerging coronavirus variants on Monday. pic.twitter.com/Mmdln3gNG6
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 3, 2021
Reporters asked Biden at the end of his Oval Office appearance about the Mississippi and Texas lifting face mask mandates and withdrawing restrictions on indoor capacities at businesses, and in return, he expressed his wish to heck some of the elected officials knew it. Texas Governor Greg Abbott withdrew COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday and lift mask mandates and allowed businesses to operate at a hundred percent capacity.
The orders immediately impact both states, such as Texas and Mississippi and beyond, with face masks required signs coming down, statewide businesses trying to navigate the lack of restriction measures, the White House weighing in, and the local officials pushing back. The rescinded restriction raised an alarming situation for public health officials, as they worried the actions could speedup a trend of states reversing efforts to curb coronavirus transmissions, sending new virus cases creeping mounting as the country tries to get the end of the outbreak.
Federal Health Officials urging states not to remove restrictions immediately
Several weeks of struggle, steep drops in new infections stalled last week, holding at an alarmingly high average of over sixty-seven thousand new cases daily. That is more than the caseload of the summer and early fall, before a winter surge of the cases sent daily new coronavirus infections climbing to a high of almost two lac and forty-eight thousand per day. Pointing to the rising level of cases and the rise in spreadable new variants of the fatal virus, federal health officials urging state officials not to lift restrictions too quickly.
However, last few weeks, states observed a spell of decisions to increase tenancy limits on bars and restaurants and relax restrictions on theaters and stadiums, with announcements in several states, from New York to Michigan to California. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, called state orders to withdraw mask mandates, pointing to the plateauing infection numbers.
Texas and Mississippi lift extra scrutiny by removing all safeguards
Mississippi and Texas drew additional scrutiny because they removed almost all safeguards – Abbott announced on Twitter that opened his state hundred percent and eliminates mask requirements. Likewise, the Republican governors of Montana and Iowa stopped requiring face masks within the last few weeks, but they remain mandatory in thirty-five states, along with Puerto Rico and Washington D.C., according to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Scientists took them as a key tool in controlling the pandemic.
I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%.
EVERYTHING.
I also ended the statewide mask mandate.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 2, 2021
An epidemiologist at the Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation at the University of Washington, Ali Mokdad, says that it isn’t just about the decision of any single state because it affects the whole country. People in Texas will drive and get on planes and become the source of virus spread, and there will be more chance coronavirus will mutate.
American President consistently urged Americans to wear the mask
Joe Biden repeatedly urged all Americans to wear masks, and he also wears it to set an example, even after he received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Besides, he urged the nation to wear a face mask for his first hundred days in office – even though health officials recommend Americans to wear masks for longer.
Businesses in Mississippi and Texas will still be able to require customers to wear face masks, as, under Biden’s administration, everyone on federal property in those states will continue to require to wear a mask. Biden announces that it is a big mistake by Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves and Texas Governor Greg Abbott that they will no longer need residents of their states to wear face masks in public.
Moreover, the federal health officials urged the residents of both states to keep wearing masks, despite their governor’s recent orders. They said that it’s too early to abandon mitigation efforts and that COVID-19 can still re-erupt. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky said that yet cases stopped their decline from January highs, it’s not the best time to lift virus restrictions.
Encouraging to wear masks
Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, echoed Walensky and said Biden would raise the next opportunity to speak with the governors. Furthermore, she urged people to continue to wear face masks and take other necessary steps to slow down the transmission of the virus. Psaki says that he is hopeful that people in these two states will continue to follow the measures as per the recommendation of the health officials and experts.
Source: Web
Psaki said at the briefing that the whole country paid a heavy price for political leaders who ignore the science when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic. New variants of the virus are also spreading with the easy transmission, whereas some reduce the efficacy of the vaccines. By the end of May, the United States administration will have enough vaccine doses to vaccinate all Americans, though it will possibly vaccinate everybody who wants one before that.
Reeves declared that he would lift mask mandates as of 3rd March, and businesses could operate at a hundred percent capacity. On Tuesday, Biden announced that school workers, teachers, and child-care workers would receive a vaccination on priority this month. It spurs states’ officials to make moves to adjust. Whereas some people will be bumped down the eligibility line as a result.
