‘Neanderthal thinking’: Biden slams Mississippi for ending COVID mask mandate
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Mississippi mask mandate
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is ending the state’s mask mandate during the coronavirus pandemic. Here are stories that you need to know.
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President Joe Biden criticized Mississippi and Texas for ending their COVID-19 mask mandates, calling the decision “neanderthal thinking.”
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced Tuesday he is lifting a statewide mask mandate put in place to control the spread of the coronavirus, citing falling case numbers. The order goes into effect 5 p.m. on March 3 but does not apply to K-12 schools and indoor arenas.
Hours earlier, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas also reversed his state’s mask mandate, saying “it is now time to open Texas 100%,” the Fort-Worth Star Telegram reported.
“I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden said during a Wednesday press conference in the Oval Office, where he also discussed other health-related goals of his administration.
Reeves quickly responded to Biden’s comments, tweeting “Mississippians don’t need handlers.”
“As numbers drop, they can assess their choices and listen to the experts,” Reeves said. “I guess I just think we should trust Americans, not insult them.”
While coronavirus activity has been declining nationwide — and more Americans are being vaccinated against the disease every day — Biden said it’s no time for the country to drop its guard.
“The last thing we need is neanderthal thinking that … everything’s fine, take off your mask and forget it. [Mask use] still matters,” he said.
Biden pointed to the still-growing death toll of over 518,000 Americans killed by the virus as of Wednesday.
The country is still vulnerable, he said, and will be for months.
“We’re going to lose thousands more.... We’ll not have everybody vaccinated until sometime in the summer.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned against relaxing restrictions amid falling COVID-19 case counts in recent weeks.
“Please hear me clearly: At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard earned ground we have gained,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Monday.
Walensky added that the coronavirus’ downward trend is stalling, and that seven-day average of new cases and deaths increased by about 2% from the previous week.
But Reeves said during Tuesday’s announcement that he “signed what I expect will be one of my last executive orders regarding COVID-19.”
“The governor’s office is getting out of the business of telling people what they can and cannot do.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2021 at 1:04 PM with the headline "‘Neanderthal thinking’: Biden slams Mississippi for ending COVID mask mandate."