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Sisolak: Face coverings not mandated to avoid rebellion

Updated May 22, 2020 - 2:18 pm

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said that he hasn’t forced people to wear a face covering in hopes that more people would end up doing so voluntarily.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of the face covering,” Gov. Steve Sisolak said Friday during a Vegas Chamber webinar, “I think it’s a matter of people not wanting to be told what to do.”

Sisolak cited a short-lived mandate in Ohio, where the governor required face coverings and walked it back after people became “outraged” about the rule.

The governor reiterated his stance Friday that Nevadans are highly encouraged, but not mandated, to wear them in public.

Employees at reopened businesses must wear face coverings under Sisolak’s Phase One directive, and individual businesses can still require their customers to wear coverings.

Sisolak reminded Nevadans that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says wearing a face covering helps prevent the transmission of COVID-19, which can spread from people who don’t show symptoms of the disease.

Wearing a face covering helps not just the person wearing the mask, but more important, everybody else, Sisolak said.

“It does make a difference,” he said.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.

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