NC Lt. Gov. Dan Forest says no masks mandate if he’s governor
One dividing line in the North Carolina governor’s race is about wearing a mask during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, the Republican running for governor, said he would lift Gov. Roy Cooper’s statewide mask mandate and wants to reopen schools, but with no specific plan about COVID-19 restrictions.
Forest is challenging Cooper, the incumbent Democrat who is running for reelection.
“When I’m governor I would lift the mask mandate for the state and allow individual freedom to decide whether they wear a mask,” Forest said Wednesday.
Cooper instituted the statewide mask mandate on June 26.
Cooper reopened the state’s public school system this summer under “Plan B,” which allows schools to reopen for virtual learning or a mix of remote and in-person learning with restrictions. Forest said his plan is just to reopen the schools like other states have done, and that whether to wear masks should be left up to individuals and those who have pre-existing conditions.
Forest talked to reporters at a news conference at the Legislative Building in downtown Raleigh and was joined by Senate leader Phil Berger and other Republican lawmakers and candidates, along with parents who want schools to reopen for in-person, full-time learning now.
Forest said multiple times he was only speaking for himself, not those on stage with him. Most of those on stage wore masks or removed them to speak. Forest did not have a mask on.
He doesn’t think students and staff should be required to wear masks.
“I don’t think there’s any science that backs that up. That’s my personal opinion,” he said.
“All science is based on skepticism,” he said, saying that there is no one-size-fits-all science. He said any skepticism that “doesn’t meet the narrative of the left” is shut down.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommends people wear masks in public and when around people outside their own households. The CDC also states that “masks are most likely to reduce the spread of COVID-19 when they are widely used by people in public settings.”
Multiple news organizations reported Wednesday that CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told Congress that face coverings are the most powerful public health tool. “We have clear scientific evidence they work and they are our best defense,” CNBC reported Redfield saying.
The Forest campaign sells face masks in his online campaign store.
Forest said it should be up to parents if students wear masks.
Forest has held multiple campaign events indoors, with most of the crowd not wearing masks.
He told reporters he would not talk at Wednesday’s news conference about his personal mask-wearing choices on the campaign trail.
“I think I’ve been pretty clear,” he said.
Cooper campaign spokesperson Liz Doherty said Wednesday that Forest’s lack of a safety precautions plan for schools reopening is because he “cares more about politics than people.”
“His dangerous plans and spread of misinformation, especially his insistence that masks don’t work, would set us back in our fight against COVID,” Doherty said.
Cooper tweeted a photo of himself Wednesday afternoon wearing a Carolina Hurricanes mask. “The science is clear — masks work. They’re our best weapon we have to fight this virus right now, and wearing them helps boost our economy,” Cooper tweeted.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 3:42 PM.
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