Dropping The Mask

"Starting tomorrow, we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules. Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!" Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves tweeted last week.

Similarly, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said during a press conference that "It is now time to open Texas 100 percent." "It is clear from the recoveries, from the vaccinations, from the reduced hospitalizations and from the safe practices that Texans are using, that state mandates are no longer needed," Abbott said.

Biden released plans to implement new mandates, one of these is a national mask mandate “by working with governors and mayors.” However, some states believe that the time has come to lift some of the restrictions due to the recoveries, reduced hospitalizations, and decreasing numbers which were partially caused by faulty testing. 

According to AARP, as of March 16, 2021, several states have ended their masks mandates and are easing up on their restrictions, such as Texas, and are following Florida’s example in ending all restrictions to allow all businesses to fully reopen.

6 states have dropped mandates for masks in the general public: Iowa, Wyoming, Texas, Montana, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Alabama’s is expiring in April. 

The following states no longer have a statewide mask requirement, but some municipalities within each state may have their own mandates when unable to maintain 6 feet distance from others in indoor public spaces: Florida, Texas, Alaska, Arizona, Oklahoma, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wyoming. 

Kansas state currently has a statewide mask order, but it is widely unenforced as a state law passed in June 2020 allows counties to opt-out of the order. 

Kentucky has a statewide mask order that is reviewed and extended on a monthly basis.

Alabama state Gov. Kay Ivey has stated that she will be letting the state’s mask order expire on April 9, 2021. 

Arkansas state mandate is set to expire on March 31, 2021. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has stated that it will not be renewed if positive rates or hospitalizations drop below certain levels. 

Colorado state’s mask mandate will expire on April 4, 2021, at which time it will be reevaluated. 

Indiana and Louisiana state’s mask mandates run through to at least March 31, 2021, when they will be reviewed. Similarly, New Hampshire’s expires on March 26, 2021, Utah’s expires on March 25, 2021, and Wisconsin’s expires on March 20, 2021.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford University Medical School, recently said that COVID-19 lockdowns are the "biggest public health mistake we've ever made...The harm to people is catastrophic." As such he started a petition calling for the end of lockdowns claiming that they are "producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health."

Although his statements are in contradiction to what is for the most part currently being said in the mainstream “news”, they do bring rise to interesting topics for discussion. 

In a separate email, Bhattacharya said that he stands behind his comments, and that we will be counting the haram imposed on nearly every poor person for a generation. He says that the imposed lockdowns “have not served to control the epidemic in the places where they have been most vigorously imposed. In the US, they have – at best – protected the "non-essential" class from COVID, while exposing the essential working class to the disease. The lockdowns are trickle down epidemiology.”