Covid-19 Mask Mandates End in Some States, Fueling Tensions – As Covid-19 cases fall and vaccines roll out across the country, a handful of governors have dropped statewide mask mandates, raising tensions with some city leaders who are keeping their own restrictions in place to fight new strains of the coronavirus.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds this month dropped the state’s mask mandate and restrictions on social gatherings, after case counts and hospitalizations had fallen by around 80% since the autumn peak and vaccination programs in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities got under way.
“We need to make sure that we’re doing everything that we can to protect Iowans, especially our most vulnerable,” the Republican governor said in an interview. “But I also have to balance economies that support the individuals that are trying to sustain a business or sustain their livelihood.”
Des Moines, Dubuque, Iowa City and several other cities have no plans to follow the governor’s lead on dropping the face-covering mandate, as several new strains of Covid-19 have arrived in the state and the vaccine rollout takes longer than expected.
“I think now is the time to be more diligent than ever,” said Frank Cownie, Democratic mayor of Des Moines, which put its own mask mandate in place in August, several months before the state.
Ms. Reynolds made her move as President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has called for 100 days of mask wearing to further reduce case numbers and within a few days of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that endorsed double-masking.
The CDC and others say it is too soon to drop mask requirements, at least until more people get vaccinated.
“It’s absolutely not the right time to do this,” said Enbal Shacham, professor of behavioral science and health education at St. Louis University, who has studied the effects of mask mandates on Covid-19 infection rates. “It’s great that the rates are going down. But we are literally waiting on the strains that are going to be more virulent arriving in more rural communities.”
Other states and cities are easing restrictions on dining, going to bars and other activities. Iowa is one of 15 states that has either ended its mask mandate or never had one, according to a compilation by AARP.
‘It’s absolutely not the right time to do this.’
North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum in January dropped the mask mandate he imposed in November, saying cases and hospitalizations had fallen sharply and that personal responsibility would be enough to keep the virus in check.
Newly elected Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte followed suit this month, after securing liability protections for businesses and healthcare workers and seeing the rollout of vaccines for the elderly and vulnerable.
Several cities and counties in Montana and North Dakota have kept their mask mandates in place. That includes Fargo, N.D., whose city council voted Wednesday to extend its mandate through March 22.
Ms. Reynolds had resisted imposing a state mask mandate in Iowa, calling the measure unenforceable, until November, when new Covid-19 cases were surging and Iowa’s hospitals were filling up.
Now, Ms. Reynolds said, “everything is going in the right direction.”
When she announced her decision on masks on Feb. 5, total new cases over a two-week period in Iowa had fallen to around 12,000 from about 60,000 at the height of the pandemic, and hospitalizations had fallen to around 300 from a peak of 1,500, according to state data. Both numbers have continued to fall since. The governor said she also closely watches the amount of time it would take to double cases, which was 33 days at the peak and is now 101.
She has expressed frustration at the pace of vaccinations, but said that by the end of the month all residents and employees of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities who want to be inoculated will have received the shots. Ms. Reynolds said she consults daily with the Iowa Department of Public Health, but ultimately, she makes the decisions about what course to take for the state.
“If we start to see any increase, we’ll adjust accordingly. And Iowans know I’ll do that. I’ve said I’ll dial back,” Ms. Reynolds said.
Ms. Reynolds added that she continues to encourage Iowans to wear masks, social distance and follow the other standard precautions. “People are doing it,” she said. “They don’t need me to tell them.”
Iowa businesses embraced the governor’s move.
“We are happy to have more of our own fate in our own hands,” said Jessica Dunker, president and chief executive of the Iowa Restaurant Association. She said that the state’s bars and restaurants have taken an estimated $1.4 billion hit from the pandemic, with 20% of those businesses closing permanently.
Kim Jackson, co-owner of Timber Ridge Country Market & Cattle Co., a restaurant and store in Osceola, Iowa, that specializes in beef sticks made from cattle she raises, said her staff will continue to wear masks and the customers will wear them if they feel comfortable.
“We have about 50% of people wearing masks,” she said.
Katrina Mandsager, owner of Snap Fitness in Eldridge, Iowa, said she welcomed the governor’s move, but would keep the 24-hour fitness center’s rules in place.
Staff wear masks when giving tours or talking to people at the front desk, Ms. Mandsager said. Customers are asked to wear masks when they enter and congregate but don’t have to wear them during their socially distanced workouts, she added.
“I definitely think we’ve turned a corner,” Ms. Mandsager said. “But from a business perspective, my responsibility is to take care of my members and my customers. I want to do what’s fair to everybody and make sure that everybody feels safe and welcomed in our facility.”
