The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ statewide mask mandate.
The conservative-leaning court ruled 4-3 that Evers violated state law by unilaterally issuing multiple emergency orders to extend the mandate for months. It found that Evers needed legislative approval to issue more orders after the expiration of the initial 60-day mandate he issued in August.“The question in this case is not whether the governor acted wisely; it is whether he acted lawfully. We conclude he did not,” Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote for the majority.
The court ruled Evers exceeded his authority by issuing multiple emergency orders in response to what it said was effectively the same emergency.
The ruling bars the governor from issuing a new mask mandate as he did the last time it was tossed, by the Republican-led Legislature. The latest order was set to expire on Monday.Local governments, such as cities and counties, are still free to impose their own virus restrictions, and Dane County’s mask mandate remains in place.
Meanwhile, the mask mandate is ending in Arkansas.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that the mask mandate is officially ending in Arkansas as of Tuesday while also opening up vaccinations to nearly all remaining adults in the state.With active cases dropping and hospitalizations far below levels the state was seeing on March 1, the mask mandate is ending. Hutchinson is still asking that Arkansans still respect the decisions of businesses and venues in the state that are still requiring masks.
Arkansas joins an expanding list of states that have dropped state-mandates, either allowing local rules only or discarding the restrictions entirely.
Several states, including Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming have dropped their mask mandates in 2021, joining about a dozen other states that don’t have statewide mask requirements. Alabama, Indiana, Utah and Wisconsin will also end requirements in their states in the coming weeks.
I want to thank Legal Insurrection reader James Creigh for inspiring me to do a little data crunching on the states that ditched mandates in terms of infections.
Let’s start with Iowa, which dropped the mandate two months ago. The parameter I am using here is excess deaths: The difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same periods.
The graphic above comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
How about Texas?
Coronavirus cases have dropped to a record low in Texas roughly three weeks after the state lifted its mask mandate and reopened businesses.”Today the 7-day Covid positivity rate dropped to a new recorded low: 4.95%. Hospitalizations dropped to a 6 month low. This week we have 1 million 1st vaccines available,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote in a tweet on Sunday. “Everyone now qualifies for a shot. They are highly recommended to prevent getting Covid but always voluntary.”
How about Florida? While cases are on the rise (Spring Break), the number of deaths for the past 2 weeks have been below “excess”, with a caveat.
How about South Dakota, which never had a mask mandate? It looks like they are under the excess death curve for the past few weeks, after experiencing a holiday season spike.
Let’s compare South Dakota, land where the buffalo roam with no mask, to California….land of fruit, nuts, and masks. The Golden State also saw a holiday spike, with a drop that plunged the fatalities under excess death curve.
Finally, this analysis would not be complete without looking at New York, the media-designated Gold Standard of coronavirus response.
I believe I have enough data to prove my previous assertion: Whether or not “masks work”, mask mandates don’t and they are nothing but COVID-theater.
Additionally, I will also point out that if this were a deadly virus that was going to destroy humanity, the numbers reported would breach the excess death curve significantly. Yet, in many instances, the cases fall below what would be expected.
As more vaccines are distributed and people recover from infection (especially after receiving the new treatments that have been developed), smart leaders would do well to lift the mandates and restrictions and allow people to resume all their regular activities. Political leaders and media-types who insist on masks are following neither science or reason.
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