Andy Slavitt, the White House senior advisor to the COVID-19 response coordinator, said Tuesday that governors removing mask mandates are aware their actions aren’t helpful.
“Well, I think the governors know better. I think the governors know that they’re not helping the cause, that they’re actually weighing down the cause, and that they may think it’s a popular thing to do. I don’t think that’s the case,” Slavitt said on CNN’s “New Day.” Texas, Montana, West Virginia, Connecticut, Iowa, Arizona, North Dakota, and Mississippi recently removed its mask mandates, according to the Associated Press.
Slavitt said although more vaccines are being administered, death rates are increasing since millions of Americans have not received the vaccine. The White House official said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will keep urging people to wear masks and said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky’s “job is to speak the truth, even if people don’t like it.”
During a Monday speech at the White House President Joe Biden urged governors and other officials “to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate.”
“I’m reiterating my call for every governor, mayor and local leader to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate. Please, this is not politics. Reinstate the mandate if you let it down. And businesses should require masks as well,” Biden said. “The failure to take this virus seriously, precisely what got us in this mess in the first place, risks more cases and more deaths.”
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“Look, as I do my part to accelerate the vaccine distribution of vaccinations, I need the American people to do their part as well. Mask up, mask up. It’s a patriotic duty,” Biden said. “It’s the only way we ever get back to normal. To cheer together, and stadiums full of fans. To gather together on holidays again safely. Go to graduations, weddings.”
Slavitt also said he believes people want the truth and wearing a mask is a small sacrifice to keep people safe.
“I don’t think we’re naïve enough to think that everybody is going to agree with us, but I don’t think the facts are very hard to grasp in this particular situation,” Slavitt said.
The White House official also compared removing COVID-19 restrictions to “playing with fire” during a Monday interview on MSNBC’s “Stephanie Ruhle Reports.” Slavitt said COVID-19 still poses a serious threat.
“So lifting all of these restrictions, telling people not to wear masks, gathering in large crowds, that’s the equivalent of playing with fire. Now if we were talking about this in six weeks, it would be a completely different story,” Slavitt told Ruhle.
Slavitt told Ruhle that some governors across the U.S. aren’t willing to take part “in the rescue of our country and our citizens.”
“The real question is are we going to participate in that rescue, like the response from the Biden administration, or are we going to just wait and hope science rescues us? And I think we can all work together, we can beat this much quicker,” Slavitt said.
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