Parson won’t mandate masks as Missouri hits 1,000 COVID deaths
Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday that he will not order Missourians to wear masks in public, as Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly mandated Monday. Parson accused the media of turning masking into a political issue.
“The mask deal has become a political issue in the media,” Parson said at his afternoon press briefing. “It’s driven by, you’re on one side of it or you’re not, and it’s politically driven.”
“You have to make a decision as individuals to decide whether you’re going to do that or not. You know the facts.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced Friday that masks will be required inside all public places. On Monday, Lucas posted screen shots of a text message he received saying he should “swing from a tree” for issuing the order.
Kelly issued a statewide order in public places in Kansas, effective on Friday. Already, conservatives were girding for a backlash against Kelly’s order. In Kansas, county commissions can overturn or soften the governor’s health orders.
“For people that live in those cities that want to live under those guidelines, that’s their elected leaders’ decisions,” Parson said.
But he continued to frame social distancing and other precautionary measures against spreading the coronavirus as an issue of personal responsibility and freedom.
“Some of the freedoms that we all have in individual things have to be protected also,” Parson said.
“The ones that don’t want to wear a mask should have every right not to wear one if they don’t feel like they want to wear one.”
Parson was asked whether he will wear a mask during Independence Day festivities on Saturday, which will mostly take place outside.
“It depends on whether they ask me or not,” Parson said before seemingly giving a more definitive answer.
“We’ll try to make sure we keep that social distancing as much as I can, but I don’t plan on wearing a mask,” he said.
According to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services numbers released Tuesday, 1,015 Missourians have now died of COVID-19.
“Lots of people have lots of different spins they put on everything, but that’s 1,000 people that lost their lives to COVID-19,” Parson said. “I think we all need to remember that.”
In a Tuesday press release, Missouri Democratic Party spokesperson Kevin Donohoe accused Parson of “refusing to step up and take responsibility for his failure to address the pandemic.”
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Parson won’t mandate masks as Missouri hits 1,000 COVID deaths."