As U.S. pandemic intensifies, North Dakota becomes 35th state to require masks

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Sun, 2020-11-15 10:17 — mike kraft

As U.S. pandemic intensifies, North Dakota becomes 35th state to require masks 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. Peter Szekely U.S.

Reuters) - 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.” ...

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 country’s patchwork of state responses to the pandemic will likely remain intact after Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20, according to Dr. Vivek Murthy, the head of Biden’s coronavirus advisory board.

In a television interview on Friday, Murthy, a former U.S. surgeon general, also denied Trump’s campaign accusation that the incoming administration was planning a nationwide lockdown, like the one that froze much of the economy this spring. ...

Also see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/14/worsening-coronavirus-crisis-pushes-leaders-take-new-measures/