California, Oregon, Delaware and Connecticut joined New Jersey in announcing a partial end to mask mandates Monday. The governors of Rhode Island and Massachusetts announced plans Wednesday to end school mask mandates, while the executives of New York and Illinois said they would scrap mask requirements for businesses but are still reviewing schools. Washington announced it would end an outdoor mask mandate and the indoor mask mandate was under review.
Several of these Democratic governors have stressed that their constituents need to live with the virus, echoing rhetoric that their Republican counterparts adopted earlier in the pandemic when they declined to take statewide measures to curb the delta and omicron surges.Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said residents now have the tools to keep themselves safe and cautioned that “you are not going to get an all-clear sign.” At a news conference announcing the end to a universal indoor mask mandate Friday, Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) said that “a leader without followers is not very effective leadership, so somehow you have to strike the balance there to keep people following you.”
This adds up to a pivotal moment in the politics of the pandemic. From the outset, Democrats urged public health restrictions while Republicans largely rejected them despite the science showing they would save lives. But now — with many Americans vaccinated, the public deeply impatient and the current surge fading — many Democrats are concluding that the time for aggressive statewide measures has passed and are unwilling to risk a further electoral backlash.
“The governors are catching up with the realization that the public is moving on this issue,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Polling Institute at Monmouth University. “What we saw with the Murphy decision there, and being joined by other governors there as well, is the recognition that even the folks who were your stalwart supporters at the beginning of the pandemic and stuck with you are starting to question the value of keeping us on high alert.”
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