South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem says she won’t enforce a national face mask mandate if it is issued by President-elect Joe Biden.
“It’s a good day for freedom. Joe Biden realizes that the president doesn’t have the authority to institute a mask mandate,” Noem’s communications director Ian Fury said this week. “For that matter, neither does Gov. Noem, which is why she has provided her citizens with the full scope of the science and trusted them to make the best decisions for themselves and their loved ones.”
Since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Noem has adopted an approach that she says is focused on the Constitution and “people’s freedoms and liberties,” which has generated much criticism from many Democratic politicians and media figures.
“The facts on the ground here did not support shelter-in-place,” Noem said in April. “We just didn’t have the spread. For me, personally, I took an oath to uphold our state Constitution. I took an oath when I was in Congress to uphold the United States Constitution. So, I believe in people’s freedoms and liberties, and I always balance that with every decision that I make as governor. I get overly concerned with leaders who take too much power in a time of crisis because I think that’s how we directly lose our country someday by leaders overstepping their proper role.”
In October, South Dakota’s largest newspaper refused to publish Noem’s coronavirus update to the state over a disagreement with her position on face masks.
Noem’s update was ultimately published in another paper in which the governor wrote that “there are times when masks are appropriate” and times where they are not needed.
The governor also explained that there are those in the medical community who question the effectiveness of masks and pointed out that the World Health Organization wrote over the summer that “the widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not yet supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence and there are potential benefits and harms to consider.”
If folks want to wear a mask, they are free to do so. Those who don’t want to wear a mask shouldn’t be shamed into it, and govt should not mandate it. We need to respect each other’s decisions. In SD, we know a little common courtesy can go a long way. https://t.co/MpP3cwKEtn
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) October 22, 2020
While the president does not have the power to implement and enforce a national mask mandate, Biden has stated that he plans to work with governors to ensure as many states as possible follow mask guidelines that many health experts argue save lives.
