West Virginia Governor Jim Justice (R) expressed doubts in an interview with CNN on Thursday about Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi eliminating mask mandates, saying the state would maintain its own restrictions for the time being.
“I am not going to let this become a political soccer ball,” Justice told John King of CNN. “In West Virginia, we want to be cautious, we want to be safe, we want to respect everyone’s rights and everything, and we’ve done the right thing in all of that.”
Throughout the pandemic, Justice said: “We have always listened to experts and always allowed them to lead us … we were bold, but we were cautious.”
“If we continue to vaccinate more and more and more, we will get rid of the mask. But I don’t really know what the big hurry is to get rid of the mask because these masks have saved a lot, a lot of lives,” he added. The court added that he and his medical advisers have yet to discuss eliminating the mask’s mandate. “If we are not careful, we can make some mistakes.”
“If we continue to vaccinate more and more and more, we will get rid of the mask. But I don’t really know what the big hurry is to get rid of the mask because these masks saved a lot, a lot of lives,” says West Virginia Governor Jim Justice as states begin to suspend masquerade mandates pic.twitter.com/WJoVRRLaDs
– CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) March 4, 2021
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced this week that they will completely suspend all state mask mandates and limits on business capacity. Major retailers such as Target, CVS Health and Aldi, however, said they would keep their own mask requirements in place, even in the states by scrapping mandates.