Texas, Mississippi roll back mask mandates, pandemic business restrictions
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced an end to Texas' mask mandate, making
it the largest state to do so, and will allow all businesses to reopen at
full capacity.
- Texas was followed shortly thereafter by Mississippi, where Gov. Tate
Reeves said he would end a statewide mask mandate effective Wednesday,
adding "It is time!"
- "It is now time to open Texas 100 percent," Abbott said in Lubbock.
"Covid has not suddenly disappeared, but state mandates are no longer
needed."
- He said he would lift restrictions March 10.
- That's brought Abbott in for harsh criticism online, including from
California
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who calls the move "absolutely reckless."
- The news comes just a day after the CDC issued strong cautions against
rolling back public health measures too soon.
- And all that news came just before President Biden issued a
federal-level update on COVID-19. Invoking the Defense Production Act,
Biden said that Merck (NYSE:MRK) would help Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
produce J&J's COVID-19 vaccine; it will receive nearly $269M to
accelerate production.
- And Biden says now that there would be enough doses of COVID-19
vaccine for every adult in America by the end of May - two months earlier
than previously estimated. That would mean the challenge turns to
logistics
and the demand side of the equation rathe than vaccine supply.
- *Dear readers:* We recognize that politics often intersects with the
financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to click here
to join the separate political discussion.
|Today, 5:11 PM|43 Comments
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced an end to Texas' mask mandate, making
it the largest state to do so, and will allow all businesses to reopen at
full capacity.
- Texas was followed shortly thereafter by Mississippi, where Gov. Tate
Reeves said he would end a statewide mask mandate effective Wednesday,
adding "It is time!"
- "It is now time to open Texas 100 percent," Abbott said in Lubbock.
"Covid has not suddenly disappeared, but state mandates are no longer
needed."
- He said he would lift restrictions March 10.
- That's brought Abbott in for harsh criticism online, including from
California
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who calls the move "absolutely reckless."
- The news comes just a day after the CDC issued strong cautions against
rolling back public health measures too soon.
- And all that news came just before President Biden issued a
federal-level update on COVID-19. Invoking the Defense Production Act,
Biden said that Merck (NYSE:MRK) would help Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
produce J&J's COVID-19 vaccine; it will receive nearly $269M to
accelerate production.
- And Biden says now that there would be enough doses of COVID-19
vaccine for every adult in America by the end of May - two months earlier
than previously estimated. That would mean the challenge turns to
logistics
and the demand side of the equation rathe than vaccine supply.
- *Dear readers:* We recognize that politics often intersects with the
financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to click here
to join the separate political discussion.
|Today, 5:11 PM|43 Comments
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