President Biden is lashing out at Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over his decision to reopen businesses and roll back his statewide mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it “Neanderthal thinking.”
Biden slammed decisions being made by states such as Texas and Mississippi to relax coronavirus restrictions, including social distancing measures and face-covering orders, as “a big mistake.”
‘BIDEN-ISMS’: A STUMBLE-PRONE PRESIDENT BATTLES PERCEPTIONS ABOUT HIS AGE
“Masks make a difference,” Biden told reporters Wednesday before a bipartisan White House meeting on cancer. “The last thing, the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it.”
Abbott this week announced Texas would reopen “100%” and that the state’s mask mandate would end, effective next week.
“Everybody who wants to work should have that opportunity. Every business that wants to be open should be open,” he said.
The governor, who was by Biden’s side on Friday when the president toured winter storm damage in the Lone Star State, cited Texas’s access to testing facilities, personal protective gear, and vaccinations as primary drivers behind his decision.
The White House is at a messaging crossroads. On Tuesday, Biden announced his administration had secured enough vaccine doses to inoculate every adult in the country against COVID-19 by the end of May. A day earlier, Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned against stalling progress with case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths as variants continue to spread.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
White House press secretary Jen Psaki had told reporters earlier Wednesday that Biden was hopeful that people in Texas and Mississippi would “continue to follow the guidelines that have been set out.”
“For nearly a year, we’ve been dealing and navigating and coping with this pandemic,” she said. “And this entire country has paid the price for political leaders who ignored the science.”
