Mask mandate in Arkansas slowly becoming a reality as Governor announces to meet with the top state lawmakers to discuss the law again

The rising number of new Covid-19 cases and especially the surge in numbers of hospitalizations and deaths in the last period, made the Gov. Asa Hutchinson to think about mask mandates again in the state.

According to him, the latest Covid-19 situation in Arkansas is alarming and the pressure from the public and from some Democratic representatives has risen lately. Governor said on Monday he is about to meet the top lawmakers to discuss a mask mandate to be put in place again.

In the meeting that should take place soon, GOP leaders of the state House and Senate and the Governor will talk about allowing schools to require face masks as the state’s COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations continued to grow.

A law banning the mask mandates that was put in force in March this year makes all the procedures for new mask mandates harder and more complicated as lawmakers will have to change that law before implementing new mask mandate guidelines.

This also follows after the Little Rock School Board voted unanimously Monday evening to pass a resolution that would have the district petition Arkansas legislators to go back into session in order to overturn a ban on mask mandates in the state, which would allow school leaders to make their own decisions on whether to require masks on school property or not, KARK reported.

In the latest report, Arkansas added 621 new cases, 23 deaths and 61 hospitalizations.

The latest report can be found here.