Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday in announcing that all businesses within his state will be allowed to resume unrestricted operations, nearly one year after President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency.

Reeves acknowledged that restrictions put in place to protect the public health were “unprecedented” and needed to be lifted as soon as possible.

As of Wednesday businesses in Mississippi will be able to resume full operations without any state interference and residents will no longer be subject to county mask mandates.

Abbott said he planned to open the state next week “100%”, issuing an executive order that rescinds many of the state’s previous orders, allowing all businesses in the state to fully reopen and revoking the statewide mask mandate as of next Wednesday.

“To be clear, COVID has not, like, suddenly disappeared,” Abbott cautioned during a press conference at a restaurant in Lubbock, Texas on Tuesday.

“COVID still exists in Texas, the United States and across the globe, but it is clear from the recoveries, the vaccinations, from the reduced hospitalizations and from the safe practices Texans are using that state mandates are no longer needed.”

Texas and Mississippi are not the first states to lift its statewide mandates on masking. As of March 1, according to the AARP, the following states also do not have face mask orders in place: Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee.

Locally

The same day (Tues.), Minnesota reported four COVID-19-related deaths and 443 new confirmed and probable cases of the disease, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

It’s the smallest one-day increase in cases the state has seen since September, as cases continue to trend downward in the first months of 2021.

Of those new cases, 12 were in Stearns Couny, two were in Benton County and 14 were in Sherburne County, according to the report. There were no deaths reported in the tri-county area Tuesday.

Stearns County has now reported 18,734 total cases and 201 deaths, Benton County has reported 4,464 cases and 90 deaths, and Sherburne County has reported 8,728 cases and 72 deaths.

As of Sunday, 908,590 people in the state have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 472,789 have completed all doses in the series, according to the health department.

Many people are asking, which states are next in lifting COVID-19 restrictions?