St. Louis County’s top elected official insists that a mask mandate remains in place, even though the county commission voted to overturn it. St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said Wednesday that the mask order that took effect countywide on Monday is valid, despite the County Council voting 5-2 on Tuesday to end it.
Across the state, meanwhile, Kansas City’s mayor said he would issue a similar mask order that will take effect Monday and last through at least Aug. 28. The St. Louis County mandate and one issued for the city of St. Louis led Missouri’s Republican attorney general to sue in an effort to stop them.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt appeared on the FOX Business channel Tuesday to talk about the mask mandate in St. Louis City and County. This is what he told Stuart Varney:
“Look, the reality is that people are tired of being lied to by bureaucrats and the ruling class. They are told that if you get vaccinated then you don’t have to wear a mask. Well, in St. Louis now if you’re vaccinated then you have to wear a mask.
We know that kids are at very low risk. Kids now have to wear masks all day long. We are told Republicans are to blame for vaccine hesitation when it was Kamala Harris on the campaign trail that said she would not take it because it was President Trump’s Warp Speed.
They are told in St. Louis that they care about safety. Meanwhile, they had a 50 year high in murders last year and their solution to that is defunding police.
People have had it; so we’re filing a lawsuit because it is arbitrary and capricious. It is not based on facts, it is not based on science.
In fact, St. Louis City and St. Louis County have the most restrictive regimes in the whole state and their numbers were worse than counties that didn’t have any restrictions at all. They are making this up as they go along and we got to stop them.”
Schmitt has also vowed to file a lawsuit to repeal the mask mandate in Kansas City. He posted this message to his Facebook page today: “To the great people of Kansas City: I will be filing a lawsuit to protect your freedoms. This mask mandate is about politics & control, not science. You are not subjects but citizens of what has been the freest country in the world & I will always fight for you.”
