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Planning a vacation? Here’s the states that still have mask mandates

If you’re planning a summer vacation you are probably wondering which states have mask mandates.

More and more states are dropping the regulations as Covid rates decline and pushback from the public grows. Some states have never had mask mandates. For example, Missouri has never had a requirement and just recently was credited by the CDC as having the lowest Covid rate in the nation.

The CDC over the weekend also issued summer camp Covid guidelines that have many scratching their heads.

So as you plan your vacation, which states still have mandates and when did they end?

According to Ballotpedia, it depends if you live in a blue or red state.

Just five states out of 27 with Republican governors still have mask requirements. Those red states include Vermont, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts. For Democrat “blue” states, 21 out of 23 states still have mask mandates.

As of April 16, 2021, 26 states had orders in effect requiring individuals to wear masks in indoor or outdoor public spaces statewide. Twenty-one of the 23 states with a Democratic governor had statewide mask orders. Five out of the 27 states with Republican governors required face coverings. The map below details face-covering requirements by state along with the governor’s party.

CDC data shows most states with no mandate have lower Covid rates than most states that still have them in place. For example, New York and New Jersey were the first two states to impose state-wide mask mandates and remain two of the highest Covid infection states to date.

States that never required a mask include Idaho, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Tenessessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Alaska and Florida.

So if you’re traveling now, or planning a vacation, here’s a list of states with and without mandates and when they began in 2020 and ended.

The table below is sorted by mask order start dates.

Statewide mask orders
State Effective Number of days effective
Wyoming December 9, 2020 – March 16, 2021 97 days
New Hampshire November 20, 2020 – April 16, 2021 148 days
Iowa November 17, 2020 – February 7, 2021 82 days
North Dakota November 14, 2020 – January 18, 2021 65 days
Utah November 9, 2020 – April 10, 2021 153 days
Mississippi August 5, 2020 – September 30, 2020 56 days
Vermont August 1 – present 268 days
Wisconsin August 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021 242 days
Indiana July 27, 2020 – April 6, 2021 254 days
Minnesota July 25 – present 275 days
Ohio July 23 – present 277 days
Arkansas July 20, 2020 – March 30, 2021 254 days
Colorado July 17 – present 283 days
Alabama July 16, 2020 – April 9, 2021 268 days
Montana July 15, 2020 – February 12, 2021 212 days
Louisiana July 13 – present 287 days
Kentucky July 10 – present 290 days
West Virginia July 7 – present 293 days
Kansas July 3, 2020 – April 1, 2021 273 days
Texas July 3, 2020 – March 10, 2021 250 days
Oregon July 1 – present 299 days
Washington June 26 – present 304 days
North Carolina June 26 – present 304 days
Nevada June 25 – present 305 days
California June 18 – present 312 days
Virginia May 29 – present 332 days
New Mexico May 15 – present 346 days
Massachusetts May 6 – present 355 days
Delaware May 1 – present 360 days
Illinois May 1 – present 360 days
Maine May 1 – present 360 days
Michigan April 26 – present 365 days
Hawaii April 20 – present 371 days
Rhode Island April 20 – present 371 days
Maryland April 18 – present 373 days
Pennsylvania April 17 – present 374 days
Connecticut April 17 – present 374 days
New York April 15 – present 376 days
New Jersey April 10 – present 381 days

–Dwight Widaman with graphs from BallotPedia.com

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