North Dakota has become the 35th U.S. state to require face coverings be worn in public, as governors across the country grapple with a surge in coronavirus infections that threatens to swamp their healthcare systems.
North Dakota joined 38 other states this month in reporting record daily jumps in new cases, 17 others with record deaths and 25 others with a record number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, according to a Reuters tally.
“Our situation has changed, and we must change with it,” North Dakota’s Republican Governor Doug Burgum said in a statement late on Friday.
The mask order, similar to other state mandates, requires face coverings to be worn in most indoor public places and “in outdoor business and public settings when it is not possible to maintain physical distancing.”
Burgum also ordered restaurants and bars to limit diners to 50% of capacity and to close by 10 p.m., a move several other governors have made, citing data that links late-night gatherings to increased spread of the virus.
New cases nationwide rose on Friday to a daily record of over 177,000, the fourth straight day an all-time high was set, according to a Reuters tally of figures from U.S. public health agencies.
The surge is straining many state health care systems as the number of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals rose to an all-time high 68,141 on Friday.
Some governors, including Iowa Republican Kim Reynolds, warned this week that their hospitals were nearing capacity.
Iowa is among 15 states without a mask mandate, but Reynolds tiptoed in that direction on Tuesday by requiring they be worn at large social gatherings and at personal service businesses, such as barbershops and salons.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended mask wearing, and one widely cited model has estimated that a nationwide mandate could save 68,000 lives by next spring. Still, the issue has become politicized with several Republican governors refusing to require them, saying it is a matter of personal responsibility, not government mandate.
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