More and more state and local leaders are making similar requirements. In Indiana, masks will be required starting Monday. In Minnesota, the governor requires people to wear masks inside businesses and in public settings beginning Saturday. And the mayor of Washington, DC, has just tightened the district’s mandate.
“We have to control this virus, wearing masks will make a difference,” DeWine said at a press conference. The mandate takes effect at 6 p.m. Thursday.
At least 41 states plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico now have some sort of mask requirements order.
Until now, Ohio has only ordered residents of counties with a “red” and “purple” risk level to wear masks.
The University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Assessment projects that there will be around 5,000 fewer American deaths from Covid-19 by November 1 than in its previous model, in part due to increasing mandates for people to use masks and the increasing number of people wearing them, even when not required by law.
The mandates come amid an explosion of Covid-19 cases in the Sun Belt, with some states reporting a record number of new cases, and many hospitals are running out of intensive care unit beds.
More people wear masks in those states, including Florida, California, Texas and Arizona, which have seen a recent increase in cases, said Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics science at IHME.
But states with mask mandates have seen more universal adoption, he said.
“So a mandate is very important and it helps, and a national mandate, of course, would be much better,” Mokdad told CNN.
‘One of the best tools’
“Until a vaccine is widely available, wearing a mask is one of the best tools we have to limit the spread of COVID-19 and its harmful effects,” Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said in a statement. announcing the new state mandate. .
In Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a new order requiring residents to wear masks outside the home, even for children up to 3 years old.
“Basically, what it says is that if you leave home, you should wear a mask,” Bowser said at a press conference.
Wearing a mask now will shape what Ohioans will be able to do in the coming months, the governor said.
“It will make a difference in how we fall,” said DeWine.
“We all want children to go back to school, we want to see sports, we want to see many different things. We want to have more opportunities in the fall and to do that, it is very important that all Ohio residents wear masks,” he said.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess, Jen Christensen, Raja Razek, Eileen McMenamin, Ali Main, and Lauren Koenig contributed to this report.
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