Republican governors are rejecting President Joe Biden's appeal to reapply face mask mandates to control COVID-19.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is the first Republican governor to dismiss Biden's plea to maintain or restore mask mandates and other restrictions to control a "fourth wave" of infections.
Texas and Florida, which ended their mask mandates, are also expected to snub Biden. Georgia and Tennessee have never had comprehensive statewide mask mandates.
Biden earlier this week called on elected officials "to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate...Please, this is not politics, reinstate the mandate if you let it down," he said.
"This is deadly serious," Biden said.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned of "impending doom" from a fourth wave.
New COVID-19 cases again hit 60,000 a day in the past week, a rise of 10% from the week before, with both hospitalizations and deaths ticking up as well, Walensky said.
"I have to share the truth, and I have to hope and trust you will listen," she said. "We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope," she said. "But right now, I'm scared."
Ivey's press secretary Gina Maiola said: "Alabama's mask mandate ends April 9. We have made progress, and we are moving toward personal responsibility and common sense, not endless government mandates."
South Dakota's Kristi Noem, Oklahoma's Kevin Stitt and Nebraska's Pete Ricketts argued that mask wearing should remain a personal choice and not a legal obligation despite recommendations from their own health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Political analysts said the politicization of mask-wearing by Republicans shows how difficult it will be for Biden to push forward his agenda to mitigate COVID-19 by a combination of vaccinations and the mask wearing, hand-washing and social distancing.
