The state of Texas, among other Republican-controlled states, announced on Tuesday that it will be ending all coronavirus-related restrictions on the economy and individual rights, as reported by ABC News.
Governor Greg Abbott (R-Texas) declared at a press conference that “it is now time to open Texas 100 percent,” adding that “it is clear from the recoveries, from the vaccinations, from the reduced hospitalizations, and from the safe practices that Texans are using, that state mandates are no longer needed.”
Abbott announced that he would be signing an executive order, effective March 10th, that would eliminate any remaining mask mandates in the state, and would also permit any and all businesses to reopen at full capacity.
In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) made a similar announcement on the same day confirming that there would be no more mask mandates or restrictions on businesses in the state. Reeves made the announcement in a Facebook post, similarly citing the fact that “our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed,” and that as such, “we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules.”
Although the moves are being widely praised by residents of the states, including business owners who were the most impacted by the lockdown measures, federal bureaucrats voiced their opposition to the states’ decisions to return to being free societies. Anthony Fauci claimed that “we have to carefully look at what happens over the next week or so with those numbers” before removing such restrictions, without explaining why the next week in particular is so important.
Similarly, Andy Slavitt, one of Biden’s senior COVID-19 advisers, called it “a mistake to lift these mandates too early,” and falsely claimed that “masks are saving a lot of lives,” despite overwhelming evidence that masks have little to no impact on slowing or halting the spread of the coronavirus.