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.

–Dwight Widaman with graphs from BallotPedia.com