KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A group of legislative leaders in Kansas voted Thursday to overturn the statewide mask protocol Gov. Laura Kelly issued Wednesday.
Thanks to a new law that went into effect last week, eight top legislators have the ability to revoke emergency orders issued by Kelly.
Her order Wednesday made it a requirement to wear masks indoors in public spaces and outdoors where social distancing is not possible.
According to the Associated Press, Kansas state law gives counties the final decision, but an order from the governor means county officials would have to take a vote to opt-out of the order or set less strict guidelines.
The Republican leaders carried the vote to revoke the order, and a few members issued the following statement.
Speaker Ron Ryckman (R-Olathe), Majority Leader Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita), and Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch (R-Ottawa) issued the following joint statement:
Public health mandates should be short-term, data-driven and reserved only for pressing emergency situations. They should not be used to dictate Kansans’ daily lives year after year. If data is the real driver behind the Governor’s approach, then let’s rely on the numbers. In November, the Governor issued her last statewide mask mandate saying there was a “worrying spike” in cases. At that time, Kansas had 5,217 new cases and a 7-day average of 2,430 new cases. Now, Kansas has only 36 new cases and a 7-day average of 216 cases.
Kansans have banded together for over a year to successfully reduce the spread of COVID – and they’ve done so during a time when most counties had opted out of the Governor’s mask mandate. With cases dropping and no data to support the need for another statewide mandate, the best approach has proven to be local control. We support the continued ability of communities to tailor solutions that work for them, and we urge all Kansans to continue to practice recommended measures of infection control for their health and the health of those around them.
