Covid-19 live updates: Target, CVS among stores keeping mask mandates as Texas lifts restrictions
Here are some significant developments:
- President Biden criticized some governors’ decisions to lift mask mandates as “the last thing we need” and “Neanderthal thinking.” Speaking on Fox News, Abbott said: “People in Texas will continue to wear a mask even though there’s not a state mandate. We’re just in a situation now where government mandates are not needed.”
- Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced she would extend the state’s mask requirements for another five weeks, breaking with some other GOP governors who ditched such mandates.
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that Biden believes “it’s imperative that people listen across the country, whether they live in a red state or blue state, to the guidance of public health experts.” “He simply has asked the American people to abide by wearing masks for 100 days. We’re at about Day 40, around there. … And he’s certainly hopeful that businesses and people across the country will continue to do that.”
- Britain and several other countries announced that existing vaccines modified to target the new variants will not be subject to lengthy clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration issued similar guidelines to vaccine makers last month.
- A coronavirus resurgence across Europe has ended a six-week decline in new cases on the continent, the World Health Organization said.
- Since it began, the pandemic has killed more than 517,000 people in the United States, and while 15.9 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine dose, the numbers of new infections have halted their steady decline.
Source: WP
