Some governors take different tacks on mask

NEW YORK » Some governors across the United States are taking widely diverging approaches to mask mandates, as federal officials, including President Joe Biden, warn that despite a drop in coronavirus cases, it is too soon to stop wearing masks.

On Thursday, Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama, a Republican, extended her state’s mask mandate for another month. Striking a different tone than those of her Republican peers in Mississippi and Texas, she said she wanted to keep what she called an effective policy to require masks for a bit longer, telling residents that masks would not be required in public beyond April 9 when other restrictions would also be lifted.

“There’s no question that wearing masks has been one of my greatest tools in combating the virus,” she said at a news conference.

In response to decisions this week to lift statewide mask mandates by Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, Biden said Wednesday that those moves were a “big mistake.”

“The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask and forget it,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

“It’s critical, critical, critical, critical that they follow the science.”

Even a fellow Republican, Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, said it was a bad idea to ignore the advice of the experts.

“I don’t know really what the big rush to get rid of the mask is, because these masks have saved a lot, a lot of lives,” Justice said Thursday on CNN, adding that he, too, looks forward to the day when he doesn’t have to wear a mask.

The governor issued a mask mandate over the summer instructing people to wear masks indoors when social distancing was not possible.

In November, he extended the mandate to wearing a mask at all times except when eating or drinking, and in recent months has become a Biden ally, at least on the stimulus package.