Kansas City, Missouri ends its mask mandate

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Kansas City, Missouri’s COVID-19 emergency order was set to expire at the end of the month. But Mayor Quinton Lucas made it clear Friday that private businesses can still set their own rules.Any restaurant, grocery store, or private business can set their own rules. They do not have to let an unmasked person in.”That is absolutely false. Business enterprises, governments have an opportunity to still require masks,” Lucas said.The mayor said he would have preferred what he calls an intermediate step before the national order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that lifting restrictions for fully vaccinated Kansas Citians. The state said that 40% of the city has received one shot. The full vaccination rate is lower.Lucas said the CDC has created a national honor system.”We have no way of verifying whether people are vaccinated or unvaccinated,” Lucas said.The airport terminal still has a mask mandate because of Federal Aviation Administration rules. Masks are still required on the ATA bus system, along with patients transported by the Kansas City Fire Department ambulances.”We’re not throwing our masks away. It depends on where you are,” Lucas said.Since there will be fewer people wearing face masks now, the health director says the unvaccinated are in a worse place.”They are now going to be at higher risk because there will be less protections,” said Dr. Rex Archer, Kansas City health director.