The U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has emphasized the importance of wearing masks for the prevention of the coronavirus infection since the beginning of the pandemic. However, many people and even political leaders, including the governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, have neglected the repeated warnings from the health agency.
Currently, the US state of Missouri has the fourth-highest cases of coronavirus in the country. With each passing day, the number of new cases of the virus along with the death toll increase further, as many of the residents are reportedly not following preventive measures.
This comes as no surprise to health experts, who have seen governor Parson not taking the dangers of the pandemic seriously since its beginning. During March, Parson also insisted that lockdown and staying at home were not necessary and other practices such as maintaining six feet distance are enough for the prevention of coronavirus spread.
Even after enforcing lockdown restrictions, the measures were not as strict as they were in other states in the US. In fact, they also allowed many of the businesses in Missouri to stay open and operate with little limitations.
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In May, Governor Parson along with other Conservative governors also claimed that their effective management of the pandemic in their respective states which allowed businesses to operate kept the economy more stable and working in comparison with other states which imposed strict lockdowns.
Even though the number of cases increased quickly in June, especially when several restrictions for coronavirus were limited, Parson insisted that keeping educational institutes was not necessary.
In fact, the governor claimed that children’s safety was not a big concern as they are not as likely to develop severe symptoms of the coronavirus infection or have other associated complications of the infection.
More specifically, Parson during his statement said that children would not need to seek medical attention and go to hospitals but would have to simply go home and ‘get over’ it.
At the moment, Missouri is also one of the sixteen US states which still have not mandated masks even after the White House task force has specifically requested to do so in order to control and bring down the growing number of cases.
Although governor Parson refused to mandate masks, he stated that he is not an ‘anti-masker’ and believes that people should wear a mask when going out in public and practice social distancing to avoid catching the coronavirus infection.
However, in many places, including the Missouri State Fair, the governor has attended and spoken without wearing a face covering. Prior to the fair, photos of Parson from July also show him attending events with no mask.
Due to the negligence of preventive measures, the governor and his wife have also tested positive for the coronavirus infection yesterday.
Before Parson, other politicians, Kevin Stitt, who is the governor of the US state of Oklahoma has also refused to mandate masks and tested positive for the coronavirus infection himself in the month of July.
