RRE Tribe & You: 50 States of America

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Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Finally -- USA's Last State Mask Mandate Has Ended!

Welcome to the Monday, March 28 Brew.

The country's last statewide mask mandate has ended

By: Samuel Wonacott

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

Final statewide mask requirement ended in Hawaii March 26
Don’t forget to vote in America’s Next Top Pet Tournament!
An update on party committee fundraising

The country’s last statewide mask mandate has ended

On Saturday, March 26, the last statewide mask requirement in the country came to an end when Hawaii lifted its masking rules. This marks the first time since April 8, 2020 – a period of 720 days – in which no state has had a mask mandate in place. Gov. David Ige (D) announced on March 8 that he would end the requirement.

New Jersey was the first to enact a statewide mask mandate. Gov. Phil Murphy (D) issued the order for that requirement on April 8, 2020.

Counting Hawaii, Democratic governors in 11 states have ended statewide mask requirements since February. The last state with a Republican governor to end its mask mandate was West Virginia, which did so in June 2021.

Since the pandemic started:

39 states implemented statewide mask requirements at some point. Masking reached its widest extent in December 2020, when 38 states had mask requirements. Of those 38 states, 24 had a Democratic governor, while 14 had a Republican one.

Five states with Democratic governors who allowed a statewide order to expire later reinstated the order.
One state (New York) had its mask requirement overturned by a court. A higher court reinstated the requirement later that day.
Thirty-six states ended mask requirements through executive order, two (Kansas and Utah) ended mask requirements through legislative action. A court order ended Wisconsin’s mask mandate.

The chart below shows the total number of days each state had a mask requirement in place since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are a handful of other tidbits from our coverage:

Mississippi had the shortest mask requirement, lasting 56 days.
The shortest statewide mask requirement in a state with a Democratic governor was in Wisconsin, which lasted 242 days.
The longest statewide mask requirement was in Hawaii, which lasted 704 days.
The longest statewide mask requirement in a state with a Republican governor was in Maryland, which lasted 393 days.