As Virus Cases Spike in Arkansas, the Governor Backtracks on Masks

Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a law banning mask mandates. Now he wants to unravel it, reflecting the dilemma for Republican governors across the South, where the health crisis has deepened.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In March, with the number of new coronavirus cases plummeting in Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson let expire the statewide mask mandate that some of his fellow Republicans had opposed from the beginning. Soon thereafter, Mr. Hutchinson went a step further, signing legislation that blocked most government entities in the state from instituting any future mask mandates. The bill’s sponsor, State Senator Trent Garner, would later write on Twitter that it was “one of the most important laws we passed.”