Democratic Governor Declares COVID Emergency ‘Over’: ‘You Don’t Tell People What to Wear’

One Democratic governor says the time for COVID-19 regulations is over and that Americans should exercise personal responsibility over their health.

“The emergency is over,” Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in an interview last week with Colorado Public Radio.

“You know, public health don’t get to tell people what to wear; that’s just not their job. Public health would say to always wear a mask because it decreases flu and decreases . But that’s not something that you require; you don’t tell people what to wear,” he said.

Polis said individuals have responsibility to make the right decisions.

“You don’t tell people to wear a jacket when they go out in winter and force them to . If they get frostbite, it’s their own darn fault. If you haven’t been vaccinated, that’s your choice. I respect that. But it’s your fault when you’re in the hospital with COVID,” he said.

Polis said mask mandates were necessary when masks were the only kind of protection available, but now that vaccines are here, the days of mask mandates should end.

“Our top goal is always to follow the science, and there was a time when there was no vaccine, and masks were all we had and we needed to wear them. The truth is we now have highly effective vaccines that work far better than masks,” he said.

Polis said there is nothing wrong with wearing a mask.

“If you wear a mask, it does decrease your risk of getting COVID, and that’s a good thing to do indoors around others, but if you get COVID and you are still unvaccinated, the case is just as bad as if you were not wearing a mask,” he said.