Lucas tells CBS ‘a lot of mayors’ hands are tied’ with COVID response. Here’s why
Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas says “huge political pushback” has limited what the city can do in its efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 and that he’s in favor of mask mandates — either nationwide or in both Kansas and Missouri.
Appearing Sunday morning on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Lucas was asked by CBS host Margaret Brennan why the city had not yet reduced capacity maximums in bars and restaurants below 50%, an order that Lucas first implemented this summer.
Lucas said that KC was continuing to enforce the rules it had before getting into what he said was the “real challenge”: many people still aren’t taking the pandemic seriously enough.
“Every time that we issue a new rule, we get a huge political pushback,” Lucas said. “Masks are controversial. Testing is controversial. Dr. (Anthony) Fauci is now controversial in the president’s eyes. That undercuts our ability as local leaders in middle America to try to push back the virus’ spread.”
Brennan continued to press Lucas on the topic, asking him why the city wasn’t enforcing stricter measures that the White House had suggested.
Lucas said he’d consider those, then explained it still was a difficult task.
“Here’s the thing, we don’t live on an island,” Lucas said. “We are surrounded by a lot of states. We’re surrounded by a lot of communities. If we have a rule, but then right across the line, somebody isn’t wearing a mask, you can eat inside, you can have gigantic events — and frankly, if the Republican Party itself is having gigantic events right across the line — then that creates real challenges for us.
“So we’re trying to balance what I think is a very aggressive response while recognizing the realities around us.”
Lucas said a nationwide mask mandate “would be helpful,” as would one in either Kansas or Missouri. Neither state has that now.
“That’s the reason that a lot of mayors’ hands are tied,” Lucas said. “We will do everything we can in Kansas City to keep people safe, including evaluating a bar shutdown. But if every city around you is still loose and wide open and bars are having full capacity and there are huge parties, that’s going to be a concern, particularly in the cold weather months.”
