Ivey’s observation came when she announced that the state’s broader Safer at Home order, which includes the mask’s mandate and other measures, would be extended until the night of April 9 instead of expiring on Monday, as previously programmed.
“While I am convinced that a masked mandate was the right thing to do, I also respect those who oppose and believe that this was a step too far in the government’s exaggeration,” Ivey told a news conference in Montgomery on Thursday .
Ivey said masks have been the best tool in fighting the virus. However, she said it was time to make this a personal responsibility and not a government mandate.
Ivey, who said he will continue to wear a mask in public, asked companies to decide what their own masking policies will be after April 9.
Covid-19 case and hospital counts have dropped in Alabama and the country as a whole since January. Alabama had an average of 990 new cases per day last week – below the peak average of 4,280 on January 10, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The state had 559 Covid-19 patients in hospitals on Wednesday – well below its highest pandemic count – 3,088 – on January 11, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.
“If we could just hold on (while more people are vaccinated), it would make a huge difference. So it is very disappointing that we are just going to take off the masks right now,” Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital, told CNN on Thursday about Texas measures, before Ivey made his announcement for Alabama.
The Alabama mask’s mandate usually requires people to wear facial covers in public when they are less than 2 meters from someone other than the same home.