Arkansas’ Republican Gov. Says It Was An ‘Error’ To Sign Law Banning Mask Mandates

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he regretted the move amid surging case numbers linked to the delta strain of COVID-19.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) reiterated Sunday his regrets that he signed a law banning mask mandates in the state amid an ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus.  “Facts change and leaders have to adjust to the new facts that you have and the reality of what you have to deal with,” he said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Whenever I signed that law, our cases were low, we were hoping that the whole thing was gone, in terms of the virus, but it roared back with the delta variant.” Hutchinson went on to say he had hoped to amend the law to better protect children in the state who are not yet eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.