GOVERNORS SPLIT ON HOW FAST TO LIFT RESTRICTIONS, REOPEN
Officials trying to balance guidelines with public requests
Despite President Joe Biden’s sharp criticism of Texas and Mississippi for abruptly removing mask mandates, states and cities are aggressively going their own ways on COVID-19 restrictions as they decide when and how to reopen their economies.
The change in presidents has brought nearly diametric federal responses to the pandemic, but the country is facing a patchwork of inconsistent rules, state to state and city to city, similar to what was seen when the virus first arrived in the country a year ago and over many months during the Trump administration.
On Thursday alone, two Republican governors chose not to follow Texas’ lead, leaving mask rules in place in Alabama and West Virginia. And in Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, announced Thursday that his state would soon end capacity limits on many businesses, including restaurants, gyms and offices, while keeping a state mask mandate in place.
In part, the diverging strategies reflect how the federal government has historically handled public health policy, sharing responsibility with state and local authorities. Disparate approaches may make sense in different locations given the wide variation of severity in coronavirus outbreaks. But if Americans had hoped that the country would exit the pandemic in a more cohesive fashion than it entered it, that
has not happened.
There is no question that Biden has consistently told the country that the coronavirus is still serious and needs to be combated with a full arsenal of vaccines, masks and caution. Biden came into office calling on Americans to wear masks for 100 days — a request that runs through the end of April — as part of a plan that included an executive order directing that masks be worn on all federal property and on planes and trains. White House officials said they have held weekly calls with the nation’s governors, on Tuesdays, since Biden took office, telling them that this is not the time to let down the country’s guard.
But the reality has proved tricky. Biden is still limited in how much he can order states to follow his federal guidance. And his top advisers say they see no benefits in waging a
culture war against Republican governors at the same time they are fighting to contain the pandemic.
One of those on the calls with governors has been Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who has urged governors to maintain mask requirements, order social distancing and keep in place public health measures designed to limit the spread of the virus, according to a person who has listened to the calls.
In addition, the president’s top COVID-19 aides, including Jeff Zients, coordinator of the response to the pandemic, are in touch with governors multiple times a day, officials said.
Still, while the president and his aides have been clear about the need to wear masks and maintain basic hygiene, the Biden administration has
not published any specific new suggestions for states and local governments to use in determining when to reopen restaurants, movie theaters, beaches, gyms and churches.
That is leaving many governors balancing public health guidance with an impatience from residents weary of shutdowns.
But even within political parties, there has been no uniform response. As some Republican-led states this week ordered mask mandates to be lifted, other Republican leaders called for the opposite. In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday extended its mask mandate into April. And in West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice, another Republican, said “masks save lives,” insisting that he was in no rush to remove his state’s requirement to wear them in public.