CNN’s Camerota, Blackwell Confront Missouri Mayor Opposing Mask Mandate Amid Covid Surge: ‘How Are You Going to Get Out of This?’

St. Louis County has reinstated mask mandates after the Delta variant caused a rise in covid cases.

On CNN Tuesday, Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell spoke with Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin, who has been vocal about opposing the mask mandate.

“Hospitalizations are up. The number of people in ICUs are up. The number of people on ventilators are up,” Camerota said. “So why not make people wear masks indoors for a little while until you get the numbers down?”

Bowlin responded by saying he has “faith in our residents to do what is right as to others and for themselves,” arguing that he’s concerned “if the standard is now going to be that every time there’s an uptick in covid and without vaccinations and so forth and it stays around in perpetuity, presumably, we’ll be doing masks in perpetuity forever.”

Blackwell asked directly if he thinks that masks are effective mitigation against covid-19. Bowlin said he does, adding that residents are “fully capable of making those decisions.”

“If you don’t believe in mask mandates and you don’t believe in vaccine mandates, then how are you going to get out of this?” Camerota asked.

The mayor talked up the need for more vaccinations, but added people shouldn’t be mandated to do so.

“It’s just not working, mayor,” Camerota responded. “I understand personal freedom. In St. Louis county it’s not working. The ICU rates are up, the ventilators are up. Personal choice is not working in St. Louis County right now.”

“Statistically it’s working exactly the same as the three counties next to us and those counties — St. Charles, Jefferson, and Franklin — didn’t have and have not had nearly the restrictions and mandates that St. Louis counties have,” Bowlin said.

He reiterated that he’s “not arguing that masks wouldn’t help” but that people are “fully capable of making that decision for themselves without being told to do it.”

At one point Camerota asked, “You believe masks work. What harm is there in wearing a mask indoors?”

“Unless someone has a medical condition that prohibits them from doing it or some other similar cause, I don’t think there’s any harm in wearing the mask,” Bowlin said. “I think there’s harm in mandating citizens do it when they can do it on their own, and if this is going to be the standard that every time there’s an uptick in covid and it’s not going away, we’ll be wearing masks in perpetuity.”

“They’re not saying in perpetuity,” Camerota responded at one point. “You’re injecting that. They’re not actually saying that. And if you’re a data guy and a science guy, masks bring down transmission. Masks work. That’s what the science says. We’ve all seen evidence of that.”

“I’m not disputing that,” the mayor said.

You can watch above, via CNN.

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