Wyoming governor: No plans to reimpose COVID-19 mask mandate

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming's governor is rejecting a call by President Joe Biden for states to reimpose mask orders in response to the coronavirus.

Gov. Mark Gordon lifted a statewide mask mandate March 16. The mandate had been in effect since December.

Several other Republican governors have done the same.

Gordon has no plans to reimpose Wyoming's mandate but urges people to take personal responsibility to keep communities safe, spokesman Michael Pearlman said Tuesday.

Biden and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday this is no time to relax safety measures. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told governors in a call Tuesday that a growing rate of COVID-19 infections nationwide is concerning.

New cases in Wyoming have fallen off sharply since December. They're down to the level last September - about 50 new cases per day, down from a peak of over 600 daily cases.

Almost 700 people from Wyoming have died of COVID-19 over the past year, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.