Although 47 of the 50 states in the US currently have some form of guidelines in place, mandating the wearing of facemasks in public, only 21 of those 47 have gone so far as to make them legally required.
In these 21 states, it is legally mandated that all residents must wear a mask when outside their home or car at all times, especially when social distancing is not possible. If they are found not to be wearing a mask, they will face civil penalties, including fines.
As of this writing, the three states that do not mandate facial masks in public are those of Iowa, Montana, and South Dakota.
According to the guidelines recently set down by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), everyone, when they are outside their homes should be wearing masks, such as in “public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult or impossible to maintain.”
In recent weeks, more and more governors are taking to mandating face coverings, with Kentucky and West Virginia being the latest additions to the list. Both of these states, along with 17 other states, have put into place some of the most strict requirements, including the donning of a mask at all times. However, there are more lenient states that only mandate that you wear masks when in a business.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has set down its official guidelines that highly suggest that all residents of the country should be donning some type of face coverings, especially when social distancing is impossible or poses a problem. Data from studies recently conducted show that using a facial mask has proven to be the most effective method of stemming the spread of the virus through person-to-person contact.
Last week proved to be one of the worst weeks by far for the country, with reports of 3.2 million cases as well an estimated more than 134,580 deaths to date. On Friday, it was reported an increase in more than 68,000 new COVID-19 cases. According to an analysis done by the New York Times, this recent number set a new all-time high for the seventh time in just the past eleven days.
As for the states that are currently mandating masks in all public places, they include California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, West Virginia.
Will the vast move to mandate mask-wearing actually work?