Despite President 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 diametrical federal responses to the pandemic, but the country is facing a patchwork of rules, state to state and city to city, similar to what was seen when the virus arrived a year ago and during the last months of the Trump administration.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Breaking with other Southern GOP governors, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey extended her state’s mask order for another month Thursday but said the requirement will end for good in April.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas announced on Tuesday that he was abandoning the state’s face mask requirement imposed amid the coronavirus pandemic and will allow businesses to operate at full capacity, saying “it is now time to open Texas 100 percent.”
The wide-reaching announcement in Texas came as similar rules were being lifted elsewhere: Restaurants, schools, movie theaters and bars are reopening and shedding restrictions in some of the nation’s biggest cities and most populous states, prompting more Americans to emerge after months of isolation and bringing the country closer to a semblance of life before the coronavirus pandemic.
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