Biden calls on Texas and Mississippi to lift coronavirus restrictions: “Neanderthal thinking”

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President BidenJoe Biden: Head of Interception Office: Minimum Wage Was Not a Priority for Biden in COVID-19 Relief South Carolina Senate Adds Shooting Team as Alternative Execution Method Seth Harris , an Obama student, as Biden’s employment advisor: MORE report on Wednesday he denounced the governors of Texas and Mississippi for lifting coronavirus restrictions and called the moves “Neanderthal thinking.”

“I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told Oval Office reporters when asked about the two states lifting mask mandates and all corporate capacity limits on Tuesday.

“I hope everyone has noticed that these masks make a difference,” he added. “We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way we can get vaccines in people’s arms.”

He noted that there will be enough vaccines available for all adults in May.

“The last thing we need is for Neanderthal to think that in the meantime everything is fine, take off your mask, forget it,” he said. “It still matters.”

“We won’t have vaccines on everyone until the summer,” Biden said.

Meanwhile, he said people should continue to wear masks, wash their hands and distance themselves from others.

“I know you all know that,” he told reporters. “I’d like to check that some of our elected officials knew that.”

Biden’s comments mark a major escalation in White House rhetoric. Public health officials reiterated earlier in the day in general terms that now is not the time to remove the restrictions, but avoided putting specific names.

According to experts, the country is in a precarious moment in the course of the pandemic, with the promise of widespread vaccinations in a few months that raise hopes for a dramatic improvement in the situation in the summer.

But experts say continued restrictions on the final stretch are important before vaccines are widely available, especially with the rise of more infectious variants of the virus.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday cited ongoing vaccinations as a reason to lift the mask’s mandate and all capacity limits.

“Now we need to do more to restore livelihoods and the normalcy of jeans by opening Texas to 100%,” he said.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) received a similar message Tuesday.

“The executive orders that interfered in the lives of the people were the worst, but the only possible intervention for much of last year,” he tweeted. “We are now putting our focus on the rapid distribution of vaccines. We are leaving the business of telling people what they can and cannot do.”

Updated at 2:42 p.m.

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