Texas lifts mandate to wear masks for the fifth time in the U.S.
Announcement of 5th out of 35 states requiring masks
U.S. health officials are concerned about premature timing…the proliferation trend still remains
[이미지출처=AP연합뉴스]
[아시아경제 이현우 기자] Texas, the second-largest state after California in the United States, is expected to lift the mandate to wear masks for the fifth time, and other states are expected to join the move. As the number of people vaccinated against Corona 19 in the U.S. is approaching 80 million and the spread of Corona 19 is starting to decline, quarantine measures in each region are being eased. However, health authorities such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are still vigilant, saying that masks must be worn by the end of the year at least.
According to foreign media such as CNN, Texas Governor Greg Abbott at a press conference held on the 2nd (local time) said, “We have decided to withdraw all administrative orders related to corona such as mandatory wearing of masks.” I can.” The lifting of the mandatory requirement will take effect on the 10th, and it is known that all businesses in Texas will be reopened from that day. Texas has mandated the statewide wear of masks since July of last year.
As a result, Texas became the fifth state in the United States to announce the removal of the mandatory mask wear. Earlier in the United States, four states, including Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, and Mississippi, lifted the mandate to wear masks. Since last year, in the U.S., 35 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico, etc., have applied mandatory mask wear in 37 regions. In particular, Texas (29 million), which has the second largest population in the U.S. after California (395 million), lifts the mandate to wear masks, and many states are expected to join the move to lift the mandatory requirement in the future.
In the U.S., the number of people vaccinated at least once of the Corona 19 vaccine is approaching 80 million, and the spread of the vaccine has declined significantly compared to last January, easing quarantine measures. According to the US CDC’s vaccination statistics, the number of vaccinations at least once in the United States was 76.63 million to this day, accounting for 22% of the total American population (330 million). The number of confirmed cases per day, which soared to the 300,000 level in January, has also dropped to the 50,000 line.
However, US health authorities, such as the CDC, emphasized that it is premature to lift the mandate of each state to wear masks, and that masks should be made mandatory by the end of the year at least. Earlier, on the 14th of last month, Rochelle Wallensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said, “Even if the number of confirmed cases has decreased now, it is 2.5 times more than last summer. It is encouraging that the decline started It’s a thing, but it started with an incredibly high number,” he said. “It depends on how we act now whether we can take off our masks at the end of the year or not.”
Reporter Lee Hyun-woo [email protected]