United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticised the Texas and Mississippi administrations for dropping the mask-wearing mandates, saying that it was a “big mistake”, reported Reuters.
“The last thing, the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that, ‘In the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it,’” Biden said. “It still matters.”
He said more than 5,11,000 people have died because of the coronavirus in the United States, and that it would take time for every eligible to be vaccinated.
The US president said that the increasing availability of vaccinations was helping in containing the pandemic but it was important to remain vigilant about coronavirus norms. “It is critical, critical, critical, critical, that they follow the science: wash your hands, hot water, do it frequently,” he said. “Wear a mask and stay socially distanced. I know you know that. I wish the heck some of our elected officials would.”
Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said that it was not the time to release all restrictions, according to AFP. “The next month or two is really pivotal in terms of how this pandemic goes,” she said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his Mississippi counterpart Tate Reeves had on Tuesday announced repealing the mask-wearing mandates and allowed opening of businesses at full capacity.
Following Biden’s criticism, Reeves said that Mississippi does not have healthcare crisis. “I wish the president would focus on trusting Americans rather than trying to insult Americans,” he added.
Coronavirus cases in the US has maintained an upward trend of more than 50,000 daily infections even after the government distributed over 100 million, or 10 crore, vaccine doses and administered shots to over 50 million, or 5 crore, people, according to federal data.
Earlier, White House senior adviser Andy Slavitt said the government was planning to spend $100 million (approximately over Rs 727 crore) to help the partnership between pharmaceutical companies Merck and Johnson & Johnson to accelerate vaccine production.
Meanwhile, the Texas governor’s decision has left the residents of the state divided on the matter. Many Texans welcomed the decision, saying mask-wearing was a matter of personal choice. However, the repeal has also received pushback, reported AP. Some stores announced they still will not allow customers without masks and schoolchildren have been largely told to keep wearing them for now.
Houston Police chief Art Acevedo said his officers will continue wearing masks. He criticised Abbott over the decision and said that he was worried about more aggressive encounters such as the one in December, when a customer confronted over a mask at a Houston bar smashed a glass over an employee’s head.
“We can see conflict coming, sadly,” Acevedo said. “And I think that a lot of this is going to be self-inflicted.”
Former head of the Food and Drug Administration Dr Mark McClellan, who belongs to Texas, told AP that it was not the right decision. “Texas has been making some real progress but it’s too soon for full reopening and to stop masking around others,” he said.
On Wednesday, state education officials gave local school boards the ability to set their own rules.
Covid-19 has killed over 43,000 people in Texas, behind only California and New York. As many as 2,675,712 have been infected with the virus in the state, according to the John Hopkins University data. Mississippi has reported 2,95,675 Covid-19 cases and the toll stood at 6,743.
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