Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson says he changed his mind on mask law because “the facts change”

Washington – Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on Sunday he had changed his mind on a bill he signed in April to ban mask warrants across the state because “the facts are changing,” and admitted signing him at a time when COVID-19 cases were low in his state was “a mistake.”

“Facts change and leaders must adapt to the new facts you have and the reality of what you are facing,” the Republican governor said on “Face the Nation.” “I realized we needed to have more options for our local school districts to protect these children. And so I asked the legislature to rewrite the law that prohibited these requirements or options for school districts to protect children. . And so it was a mistake to sign this law. “

Children under 12 are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, and with the Delta variant on the rise and schools set to reopen soon in the fall, Hutchinson said he wanted to give school districts the opportunity to decide whether or not to require masks. Friday, an Arkansas judge Temporarily blocked the state enforced the ban after state lawmakers left it in place despite Hutchinson’s call to overturn the law.

In the Marion School District in Arkansas, nearly 900 students and teachers are currently in quarantine. Hutchinson said he believed if more people were vaccinated that number wouldn’t be so high, and that the district is an example of why schools need the ability to require the wearing of a mask.

“Usually you have about 2.5 contacts from an exhibit that need to be quarantined. But in the school environment it was more like 18 to one. And that’s why we’ve had so many that have been quarantined, ”Hutchinson said. “You can’t have a successful school year with that kind of exposure in school. And so the vaccines, along with the flexibility of the local school district, would be key.”

Unvaccinated children aren’t the only ones at risk of catching COVID-19 from the Delta variant. Hutchinson said that because the Delta variant is so transmissible, it affects “all populations” in his condition.

“We see 40-year-olds in the hospital and under the air ducts and then it goes down,” Hutchinson said. “And while the children are less susceptible to it and are at less risk, a small number of children still end up in the hospital. We have had more than 24 in our children’s hospital. We have seen three teenagers die. “

There have been improvements in the number of Arkansas residents receiving the vaccine. In June, the state was 46th nationwide in the number of people who received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Today, Arkansas is the 38th, with 60% of Arkansans with at least one dose. Hutchinson said he plans to continue engaging in “community conversations” to increase the vaccination rate in his condition.

The governor said another way to make the COVID-19 vaccine more “widely accepted” was for the Food and Drug Administration to give them final approval. Although he said it would not convince him to support the Arkansas vaccination mandates, Hutchinson called on the Biden administration to take the step to encourage more Americans to get vaccinated.