Alabama governor extends mask order but says mandate will end in April

The governor of Alabama said she will extend the state’s current mask mandate through April 9, then lift the order.

Gov. Kay Ivey said Thursday the extension is to allow businesses time to implement their own policies and make any necessary adjustments prior to the deadline.

Under the current order, masks are required in public whenever someone is within 6 feet of another individual from a different household. Face coverings are also required in schools and colleges for both employees and students in second grade and above.

But once the order ends on April 9, masks will no longer be mandated.

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

“And even when we lift the mask order, I will continue to wear my mask while I’m around others, and strongly urge my fellow citizens to use common sense and do the same thing. But at that time it will become a matter of personal responsibility and not a government mandate,” she continued.

Ivey’s announcement comes days after the governors of Texas and Mississippi announced that they would be lifting their states’ mask mandates and rolling back many of their Covid-19 health requirements. All three governors are Republicans.

“It is now time to open Texas 100 percent,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday. “Covid has not suddenly disappeared, but state mandates are no longer needed.”

Mississippi’s governor, Tate Reeves, said in a tweet that he felt it was time to lift the order because “our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed.”

The mandate ended in the state on Wednesday.

Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has expressed concern about states rolling back coronavirus mandates.

“Please hear me clearly,” she said at a White House Covid-19 briefing this week, “At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.”

source: nbcnews.com