Exclusive — Sources: Alabama to Join Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Others in Eliminating Mask Mandates this Week

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, 1/14/2019
(Jeff Poor/Breitbart News)

Alabama will become one of the next states to eliminate a government-imposed mandate that requires people wear masks in public, sources close to the matter told Breitbart News.

A source familiar with state deliberations confirmed that as soon as Friday but definitely in the coming days. Alabama will join several other states nationwide in removing its mandate requiring masks in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

GOP Gov. Kay Ivey’s office has not yet confirmed what sources familiar with the state’s planning and deliberations are, but a spokeswoman for Ivey told Breitbart News she was never a fan of mandates to begin with—a sign of the coming move.

“All along, Governor Ivey has made clear that she prefers personal responsibility to government mandates. We are optimistic that our state is heading in the right direction, and we still have some work to be done. Governor Ivey will provide an update to the people of Alabama soon,” an Ivey spokeswoman said.

The governor’s spokeswoman would not deny that she intends to lift the mask mandate on Friday, when the order is set to expire–but would not confirm the news either.

While this statement does not confirm outright what Ivey has planned—again, sources familiar with the deliberations confirmed to Breitbart News that she is planning to scrap the mask mandate—this development is significant as it comes on the heels of several other states ditching their own mask mandates.

Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth also released a statement on Wednesday urging Ivey to ditch the mask mandate once and for all:

Ivey could always back down ahead of the forthcoming announcement, and if she does it will be seen as cowering to democrats like President Joe Biden in Washington without following scientific advice and the leadership of other GOP-led states. Alabama Democrats are pressuring Ivey to cave to Biden and keep the mandate:

This week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves—both Republicans—announced they are lifting their states’ mask mandates. They join 14 other states—Florida, South Dakota, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee—in not having mask mandates.

These red states’ decisions to ditch previously implemented mask mandates are a rebuke of Democrat President Joe Biden’s push to try to get Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office. Biden is not even through half of his first 100 days and already losing the confidence of a growing number of U.S. states rejecting his advice and guidance.

In response to the announcements from Texas and Mississippi, Biden lashed out at the White House on Wednesday falsely calling the people in those states subhuman.

“The last thing, the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it,” Biden said about Abbott’s and Reeves’s moves.

One of the sources familiar with Alabama’s forthcoming decision told Breitbart News that Biden attacking the people of Texas and Mississippi is playing a huge role in Alabama’s move to nuke the mask mandate. In other words, this person said, Biden’s attacks on American citizens are backfiring as more and more responsible government leaders across the country reject his authority and are moving away from his recommendations as he shows disdain for Americans from states that did not vote for him for president.

“Joe Biden has fewer functioning brain cells than a Neanderthal and continues to listen to clowns like Fauci, who’s been wrong at every turn, but he’s got the nerve to criticize states who abandon mandates that aren’t supported by science? Screw him,” one source familiar with the forthcoming order changes in Alabama told Breitbart News.

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