Gov. Scott faces backlash after saying other states' Covid masking orders 'haven't worked'

Facing pressure to take action on Vermont’s coronavirus spread fueled by the contagious Delta variant, Republican Gov. Phil Scott took aim at other states in the country that have responded to mounting caseloads by reinstating indoor mask mandates.

“There’s seven states across the country that still have a state of emergency and mask mandate,” he said at a news conference Tuesday. “Their data doesn’t look any different than ours; in fact it’s worse than ours. So their mitigation measures haven’t worked.”

Scott’s statements have drawn backlash from both medical experts and officials from states that have masking orders in place.

The governor’s remarks were “incredibly irresponsible,” said Anne Hoen, an associate professor of epidemiology at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. The scientific evidence does indicate that masks work to slow the virus’s spread, she said, and mask mandates make more people likely to use facial coverings.

“For someone who has promoted his policy as being grounded in science and data, it is so disappointing to hear him make the conclusion that mask mandates are not effective, a statement that has no scientific basis,” Hoen wrote in an email to VTDigger.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2021/10/06/scott-faces-backlash-after-saying-other-states-covid-masking-orders-havent-worked/