Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin has promised the citizens of Virginia that he won’t mandate masks or vaccines to fight coronavirus.
But unlike some Republican governors, he won’t block localities from implementing their own COVID-19 mandates.
Richmond’s WRIC reports:
“Localities are going to have to make decisions the way the law works and that is going to be up to individual decisions but, again, from the governor’s office, you won’t see mandates from me,” Youngkin clarified in a one-on-one interview over the weekend.
Those comments come a few days after a federal judge ruled that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting localities from requiring masks in schools violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by putting students with underlying conditions at risk and hindering their access to in-person instruction. The judge is now barring that order from being enforced.
Despite being described as an “anti-vaxxer” by critics on the campaign trail, Youngkin called himself a “staunch supporter” of the vaccine.
“My family has gotten it. I’ve gotten it. I think it’s the best way for people to protect themselves,” Youngkin said.