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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden on Wednesday (March 3) criticized “Neanderthal” decisions by Texas and Mississippi to remove the mandates to wear masks, underscoring that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is far from being overcome. .
“I think it’s a big mistake. I hope everyone has realized by now, these masks make a difference. We are about to be able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease,” Biden told reporters at the White House, noting that the death toll continues to rise beyond the half million mark.
“The last thing we need is for Neanderthal to think that in the meantime, everything is fine, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters.”
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), echoed the warning, saying that Texas and Mississippi decisions to challenge federal guidelines and face mask requirements were premature.
The United States has recorded more than 500,000 deaths from coronavirus, but has recently advanced the mass vaccination plan, prompting some states to relax unpopular controls.
Walensky said: “Now is not the time to release all restrictions.”
“The next month or two is really critical in terms of how this pandemic is going,” he said. “Still, it would encourage people to wear a mask, to distance themselves socially.”
Biden’s coronavirus adviser at the White House, Andy Slavitt, also said the president was “100 percent” behind the CDC’s recommendations for continued use of masks.
Walensky warned that recent steep drops in COVID-19 deaths and cases were showing signs of stagnation, warning that the B117 hypertransmittable variant “looms ready to hijack our successes to date.”
Texas, followed by Mississippi, on Tuesday ignored warnings not to relax restrictions and said businesses, including restaurants and bars, could operate normally starting next week.
CAUTION VERSUS OPTIMISM
Only 9.2 percent of those 18 and older in Texas have received two doses of the vaccine, but Republican State Governor Greg Abbott said the vaccine and better tests mean normal life can be resumed.
“For nearly half a year, most businesses have been open at either 75 percent or 50 percent, and during that time, too many Texans have been sidelined from job opportunities,” he said at a business forum Tuesday.
“This must end. Now is the time to open Texas 100 percent,” he said to cheers from his audience.
Public School Safety Officer Victor Rodriguez celebrates after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson at Hartford Hospital. Connecticut, March 3, 2021 (Photo: AFP / Joseph Prezioso)
Many Texans welcomed the move, saying that wearing the mask was a matter of personal choice.
“I think this announcement is fantastic. I mean, let the people make their own decision,” Ron Mart, an oil industry worker in Houston, told AFP.
“It doesn’t need to be a mandate. It’s not a babysitting state. The governor is not my mother, you know.”
But the Democratic mayor of Houston described the decision as “disappointing and discouraging”, tweeting that “every time we start to move in the right direction, the governor steps in and pushes us back.”
Iowa and Montana eased restrictions last month, and in Massachusetts, restaurants now have no capacity limits, while in South Carolina gatherings are no longer limited to 250 people.
Some Democratic cities, like San Francisco, are also taking steps toward a post-pandemic life by allowing indoor dining and museums to open with limited capacity.
Biden has tried to balance his pleas for wearing a mask with his message that America’s response to COVID-19 has been transformed since he replaced Republican President Donald Trump in January.
On Tuesday, Biden announced that the United States will have enough COVID-19 vaccines for its adult population by the end of May, two months before its latest forecast.
It also unveiled a major agreement for pharmaceutical giant Merck to produce the injection of the vaccine developed by rival Johnson & Johnson.
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