‘No thank you, Mr. President’: Gov. Reeves says Miss. will not reinstate mask mandate

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Gov. Tate Reeves is saying “no thank you” after President Joe Biden recently urged governors to reinstate their state’s mask mandates.

Reeves made the comment on social media Tuesday, writing, “Let me get this straight - POTUS Biden wants Mississippi to reverse course and reinstate a mask mandate because cases are going up in New York and New Jersey. No thank you, Mr. President.”

This after CDC Director Rochelle Walensky cited a “concerning” national trend in a call with governors, citing a seven-day average of 61,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, which is up 13 percent.

She even warned of “impending doom” if people keep easing off their COVID restrictions.

Biden also pleaded with governors who had done away with their mask mandates to reinstate them, saying, “Please, this is not politics, reinstate the mandate if you let it down.”

But Reeves is not the only governor to ignore President Biden’s commands, with Arkansas’s Governor Asa Hutchison announcing Tuesday that he is dropping his state’s mask mandate a day earlier than planned.

Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey also intends to end her state’s mask mandate on April 9.

Mississippi has continued to see a gradual decrease in COVID-19 cases since Reeves let the mask mandate expire on March 3, which President Biden called “Neanderthal thinking.”

“I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden said of Mississippi and Texas lifting most COVID-19 restrictions earlier this month, including their mask mandates. “Look, I hope everybody’s realized by now, these masks make a difference.”

This downward trend in Mississippi is also due to the state’s extensive vaccine distribution, with all Mississippians 16 and older now able to make an appointment to receive them.

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