President Joe Biden and federal health experts hit back Wednesday against Texas and Mississippi dropping their Covid-19 business restrictions and mask mandates, with Biden criticizing the decisions as “a big mistake,” joining a chorus of public health experts and officials who have spoken out against the orders being lifted while cases remain high and coronavirus variants spread. With the U.S. on the “cusp” of widespread vaccinations, the “last thing” it needs is “Neanderthal thinking that ‘in the meantime everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it,’” Biden told reporters Wednesday, after White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki criticized the decision at an earlier press briefing, saying, “This entire country has paid the price for political leaders who ignored the science when it comes to the pandemic.” Dr. Anthony Fauci also criticized the states’ decisions as “ill-advised” and “really quite risky” at a town hall Wednesday with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, noting that in the past when cases have plateaued as they are now, “when you pull back on measures of public health, invariably you’ve seen a surge back up.” “The CDC have been very clear that now is not the time to release all restrictions,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Wallensky said at a briefing Wednesday about the dropped measures, noting residents are “empowered to do their own thing here” by continuing to wear a mask and social distance “regardless of what the state decides.” The comments follow a series of high-profile figures who spoke out against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision Tuesday: Texas politician and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke slammed the move as a “death warrant for Texans,” while Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Texas’s dropped restrictions “endangers the entire country and beyond.” Local leaders throughout Texas also criticized Abbott, with San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg saying lifting the measures is a “huge mistake” akin to “cut[ting] off your parachute just as you’ve slowed your descent.”Health officials in Texas have also responded to the governor’s decision with outrage: Houston Health Department official Dr. David Persse said Tuesday he was “at a bit of a loss for words,” and Memorial Hermann Health System CEO Dr. David Callender told KHOU11, “I think the typical response I’ve heard today from our people is, what is he thinking?”
“It’s critical, critical, critical, critical that they follow the science” by wearing a mask, washing hands and social distancing, Biden told reporters Wednesday. “I know you all know that, but I wish the heck some of our elected officials would.”
Abbott announced Tuesday that all restrictions on businesses in the state and the statewide mask mandate will lift starting March 10 as cases in the state have gone down, declaring, “It is time to open Texas 100%.” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also announced Tuesday his state would end its Covid-19 restrictions and mask mandate, which only applied to certain counties, as well. The decisions are part of a broader trend of states lifting or easing restrictions as Covid-19 cases have dropped nationwide. These steps have been taken over the objection of health officials, who have warned against relaxing restrictions while more transmissible coronavirus variants spread nationwide. Wallensky noted last week that the recent decline in cases now appears to be plateauing as variants have taken hold, calling the new trend a “very concerning shift” in the course of the pandemic. As coronavirus variants remain a concern, a February study found that Houston was the first city in the country to record every major variant that has been documented by genome sequencing so far. The study found 28 cases linked to variants, including the strains that were first identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.