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Health Officials Call On Mississippi Governor To Implement Statewide Mask Mandate

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Nearly the entire country is facing a new spike in COVID-19 cases, and Mississippi is no exception. This past week has seen cases surge past the previous peak that the state saw in the summer. But while the state had a mask mandate in place during the summer months, Republican Governor Tate Reeves has resisted reinstating it for the current wave of cases. Instead, he's taking a county-by-county approach. And right now, around two-thirds of Mississippi counties have mask mandates. This county-by-county approach has drawn sharp criticism from some of the leading public health experts in the state, including from Dr. LouAnn Woodward, the vice chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She joins us now.

Welcome back.

LOUANN WOODWARD: Thank you, Ailsa. I'm very glad to be with you.

CHANG: You and other top officials in the state have sent a letter to Governor Reeves, calling on him to implement a statewide mask mandate. But so far, he has not responded publicly to that letter. Have you heard anything from him directly?

WOODWARD: I have not. I have not heard anything from him directly. He does host press conferences and has indicated in those public settings that his plan continues to be to look at it on a county-by-county basis. I understand a little bit where he's coming from, from the standpoint of just by the fact of him issuing an executive order for a statewide mandate, that doesn't mean everybody is going to comply. But I and other health care leaders in the state also feel like it really sends a message how serious this is and that this is an important step for everybody to take. It's not the only thing.

CHANG: That said, I mean, there are a lot of states that are following an approach that's similar to Governor Reeves' - that is, you know, different mandates for different areas. Like, here in California, the current stay-at-home order is not statewide. So let me ask you, why should a mask mandate be statewide?

WOODWARD: I think because we're seeing a lot of people who are going from one county to another on a daily basis - whether it's because they work in an adjacent county. We've still got sports activities that are going on. People are traveling all around the state. So I think that that is just a measure that allows us as a state to all be on the same page. And you don't have to know county by county whether there's a mask mandate in place or not.

CHANG: Well, I do want to ask you, you know, Mississippi's state health officer, Thomas Dobbs, said that he is, quote, "worried that the mask conversation is distracting from the real threat," you know, people carrying on with parties and other non-essential activities while the virus is still rampant. What do you think of that?

WOODWARD: I think there's truth to that. I think, you know, it's kind of a shame how political it has become about wearing a mask, not wearing a mask. And honestly, we should not have to have a mask mandate for people to do the right thing. But I think people have let down their guard. And they're fatigued. People are tired of the idea that the coronavirus and the pandemic is inhibiting their - you know, the things that they want to do. People are tired of it.

So honestly, if people would just wear the mask, I don't think we'd have to have this conversation. But what I hate to see is that people have fallen out along party lines and have taken sort of antagonistic positions, which is so unfortunate because this virus certainly knows no political party.

CHANG: Dr. LouAnn Woodward is the vice chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Thank you very much.

WOODWARD: You're very welcome. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.
Maureen Pao is an editor, producer and reporter on NPR's Digital News team. In her current role, she is lead digital editor and producer for All Things Considered. Her primary responsibility is coordinating, producing and editing high-impact online components for complex, multipart show projects and host field reporting.