Parson: CDC mask guidance ‘disappointing and concerning’

Disappointing and concerning. That’s how Missouri Governor Mike Parson describes the CDC’s updated mask guidance.

“The recently updated CDC guidance regarding mask wearing for fully vaccinated individuals is disappointing and concerning. It’s disappointing because it is inconsistent with the overwhelming evidence surrounding the efficacy of the vaccines and their proven results,” the governor tweeted Wednesday.

In St. Louis, the County’s top elected official insists that a mask mandate remains in place, even though the county commission voted to overturn it.

Governor Parson says the new CDC guidance “only serves to disrupt the increases we are seeing in vaccine uptake. This self-inflicted setback encourages skepticism and vaccine hesitancy at a time when the goal is to prevent serious illnesses and deaths from COVID-19 through vaccination.”

In Kansas City, Mayor Quinton Lucas said he would issue a similar mask order that will take effect Monday and last through at least Aug. 28.

Questions over the legality of local mask requirements stem from a law Parson signed last month that limits the duration of local public health restrictions and bars governments from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination to use public facilities and transportation.

“It’s concerning because the nation’s top public health agency appears to be cowering to the political pressures of those who only want to force mandates and shutdowns, which only further prolong the recovery,” said Parson. “This decision only promotes fear and further division among our citizens.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report