On March 02, 2021, Governor of Texas State, Greg Abbott stated the all businesses will fully re-open by March 10 while the Governor of Mississippi State, Tate Reeves had announced the withdrawal of mask mandates on March 03, 2021.
The governors of both the states, viz., Texas and Mississippi had consequently announced the uplift of COVID-19 mask mandate that was imposed in last summer and to re-open the business to its fullest capacity since the COVID-19 outbreak. With a population of nearly 30 million people, Texas has become the largest state in U.S. to lift this major precautionary measure which was meant to limit the transmission of COVID-19 virus. Owing to the economic excellence of the Texas State, Gov. Abbott previously claimed that several citizens of the state are missing the employment opportunities and the businesses were operating at minimal capacity due to restrictions of COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the Gov. Abbott has praised the state’s one-day record of vaccine administration on the same day after announcing the removal of mask mandate. Currently, the Texas State is delivering an average of 1 million vaccines dosages to its citizens on weekly basis.
Following this announcement, the Governor of Mississippi State, Tate Reeves had tweeted that the state is ‘rewarded’ with the withdrawal of restrictions due to recovery of its economy and increasing job vacancies.
As expected, this decision of both the states was heavily criticized by the healthcare experts and researchers. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had released a statement responding to these relaxations in COVID-19 restrictions, ‘One of the most effective, pro-active measures that anyone can take to minimize the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus, is to wear a face-mask or a protective-shield in public or within closed spaces.’ Moreover, the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky had urged the citizens of these states to keep up with the restrictions and called the new mutations of SARS-CoV-2 as a ‘real threat’ to the people.
