Month: April 2021

After seeing the recent reports of elderly Asian Americans being attacked, a chef in Washington, D.C., decided to fight back using what he does best. Karina Bafradzhian has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
Camera: Andrey Degtyarev
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In Miami, Oklahoma, restaurants and their customers are doing their part to ease pandemic heartache, one meal at a time.Cafes in and around the close-knit town in the state’s northeastern corner have put up “receipt walls,” allowing diners to prepay for meals and the needy to grab what they like, have a seat and refuel — judgment-free, no questions asked.The idea of providing free, prepaid meals spread from restaurant to restaurant a few months ago. Many recipients are homeless or have otherwise hit hard times since the pandemic rolled into Miami (pronounced my-AM-uh), population about 13,000. Two February blizzards brought even more trouble.Receipts for prepaid meals hang on the wall inside the Dawg House in Miami, Okla., Feb. 11, 2021. Customers pay for them so that others in need, many of them struggling financially because of the pandemic, can get a meal, no questions asked.Jennifer White, a Miami native who owns the Dawg House, a gourmet hot dog spot, transitioned from food truck to brick and mortar last September, a bold move in the middle of a pandemic. She was the first to put up a giving wall. Within eight hours, she had a wall full of meal receipts.So far, customers at the Dawg House have provided more than 600 meals.”And we have only eight tables in our restaurant, so that says a lot about how amazing our community is,” White said.Some who have peeled off a taped-up receipt have paid it forward, returning to add receipts of their own. She’s had regulars purchase 10 to 50 giveaway meals at a time.’A lot of homeless people’Lasay Castellano, a nursing student who recently left her job as manager of Zack’s Cafe, said the diner serves about 600 people a day. She’s been taping up receipts for nearly two months.”We have a lot of homeless people here. A lot. Within a day we had almost $600 in meals on the wall,” she said. “We’re having a hard time keeping tickets on the wall.”Among White’s donors is Derrick Hayworth, 32, who owns a food delivery company that services the Dawg House and other restaurants and retailers.”It’s the whole community behind it,” he said. “It wasn’t forced. It was just meant to happen.”When the blizzards hit, everybody pitched in to help those without places to stay. Mayor Bless Parker helped ease people who are homeless into hotels and supply them with food from the restaurant walls.Life in Miami, in an area where lead and zinc mines ruled more than 100 years ago, inches closer to something that looks like the old normal every day. The area’s plentiful casinos have reopened, and restaurants like the Dawg House have welcomed back in-person dining, with fewer tables to provide for social distancing.White said a couple and their four young daughters stand out among the beneficiaries of the free meals.”They were just so sweet, and their parents were beyond grateful and thankful,” she said. “They seemed like they had a lot going on and got to sit for an hour and a half or so to just have a meal, have fun and laugh, and not worry about how much they were having to spend.”   
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New U.S. unemployment compensation claims jumped again last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the recovery from the economic damage caused by the coronavirus remains tenuous.The government said 719,000 workers filed for benefits last week, up 61,000 from the revised figure of the previous week. The week-ago figure of 658,000 was the smallest total of new jobless benefit claims in the United States since the coronavirus first swept into the country a year ago.But other than the week-old total, the number of jobless benefit claims has remained above 700,000 a week, and above 800,000 and 900,000 in some weeks in early 2021. Until the virus swept through the U.S., the highest pre-pandemic weekly claims total, in records dating back to the 1960s, was 695,000, after reaching a peak of 6.9 million claims a year ago.  By comparison, in 2019, before the pandemic, unemployment compensation claims averaged 218,000 a week.US Unemployment Benefit Claims Dropped Sharply Last WeekUnemployment compensation claims dropped sharply last week to their lowest level in a year, Labor Department reportsEmployers in many states are still facing directives to curtail their operations, while some state governors are revoking orders for people to wear face masks and allowing businesses to fully reopen or setting dates in the coming weeks when they say businesses can ramp up.The employment picture in the U.S. also could improve as money from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package filters through the economy. The measure could help boost hiring and consumer spending, as millions of Americans, all but the highest wage earners, are now receiving $1,400 stimulus checks from the government.Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress recently, “With the passage of the rescue plan, I am confident that people will reach the other side of this pandemic with the foundations of their lives intact. And I believe they will be met there by a growing economy. In fact, I think we may see a return to full employment next year.”About 2.5 million Americans are now being vaccinated against the virus each day, with Biden promising that 90% of all adults who want a vaccination will be eligible to get one by April 19, less than three weeks from now.  More than 54 million Americans are fully inoculated with one of the three available vaccines, about 21% of the U.S. adult population. As that number grows, more people are regaining a sense of normalcy in their lives.Even so, the number of new cases is on the rise again in the U.S., with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying this week she has a feeling of “impending doom.””We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope,” Walensky said. “But right now, I’m scared.”Employers in many states are still confronted with orders from state and municipal officials to restrict business hours or limit the number of customers they can serve at any one time to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Those arriving for dinner in a restaurant, sometimes for the first time in a year, still find many establishments cordoning off every other table to keep customers safely distanced from each other.U.S. employers added 379,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate edged down to 6.2%. The country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, predicts it could drop further to 4.5% later this year.  The government is releasing its March employment report on Friday, with economists predicting that the U.S. economy added 675,000 jobs last month and that the jobless rate edged down to 6%.The Fed is expecting the economy to grow by 6.5% this year compared to its previous projection of 4.2%, with the growth rate slowing to 3.9% in 2022 and 3.5% in 2023.Despite the rosier picture, Fed chair Jerome Powell has cautioned that the economy will not instantly return to pre-pandemic levels.“It’s just a lot of people who need to get back to work, and it’s not going to happen overnight,” Powell told Congress recently. “The faster, the better.”Under the $1.9 trillion relief deal, the federal government is continuing to make $300-a-week extra payments to the jobless into early September, on top of less generous state benefits, a provision that will help millions of unemployed until their old jobs are restored, or they find new work.In the U.S., only slightly more than half of the 22 million jobs lost in the pandemic have been recovered.  U.S. employers have called back millions of workers who were laid off during business shutdowns in 2020. But some hard-hit businesses have been slow to ramp up operations again or have closed permanently, leaving workers idled or searching for new employment.The coronavirus relief measure, however, almost certainly will give a new boost to the economy, easing the path for many employers to keep workers on their payrolls as coronavirus restrictions are gradually eased.The U.S. has now recorded 552,000 coronavirus deaths and more than 30 million infections, both figures higher than that being reported in any other country, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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For many parents one good thing about grown kids moving out is the opportunity to focus on personal hobbies.  VOA’s Maria Iman-Santoso tells of one woman whose hobby benefits others. Dhania Iman narrates the story.Camera: Maria Iman-Santoso 
Producer:  Jon Spier 
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A court in the U.S. state of Minnesota proceeds Thursday with the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer charged in the death of George Floyd last year that sparked widespread protests against police brutality and systemic racism last year.Jurors on Wednesday saw about 20 minutes of police body camera video that spanned the time from when police approached Floyd’s vehicle and when he was loaded into an ambulance.One video played Wednesday showed Chauvin saying Floyd was “a sizable guy” and “probably on something.”Chauvin kneeled on the back of Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as Floyd cried repeatedly that he could not breathe.Chauvin, who is white, was fired by the city’s police department the day after Floyd, an African American, died in custody.Jurors also heard testimony from several witnesses, including the convenience store cashier who sold cigarettes to Floyd moments before his deadly encounter with Chauvin.Christopher Martin testified that he knowingly accepted a fake $20 bill from Floyd for the cigarettes even though the money would be subtracted from his paycheck in accordance with store policy.The 19-year-old said after second-guessing his decision, he informed the store manager who told him to go outside and ask Floyd to return to the store.“If I would’ve just not taken the bill, this could’ve been avoided,” Martin said.Echoing sentiments from other onlookers, Martin said he felt “disbelief and guilt,” as he stood on the curb watching Floyd’s arrest.Martin was among several people who have testified about their frustration and anger as they witnessed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck outside a convenience store last May.The officer is facing charges of murder and manslaughter and has pleaded not guilty.Chauvin’s defense lawyers have argued he was following his training and that other factors such as heart disease and drug use caused Floyd to die.The city of Minneapolis recently agreed to pay Floyd’s relatives $27 million in damages to settle their claims of abuse in the case.
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A child was among four people killed Wednesday in a shooting at a Southern California office building that left a fifth victim and the gunman critically wounded, police said.The violence in the city of Orange southeast of Los Angeles was the nation’s third mass shooting in just over two weeks.When police arrived at the two-story structure around 5:30 p.m. shots were being fired, Orange Police Lt. Jennifer Amat said. Officers opened fire, and the suspect was taken to a hospital, Amat said.It’s unclear if the suspect suffered a self-inflicted wound or was shot by police. Police provided no details on the victims other than to say one was a child and a woman was critically wounded.In a tweet, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the killings “horrifying and heartbreaking.””Our hearts are with the families impacted by this terrible tragedy tonight,” he wrote.U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, a California Democrat whose district includes the city of Orange, said on Twitter that she was “deeply saddened.”Amat had no information about what may have prompted the attack. She said the shooting occurred on both levels of the building. Signs outside indicated a handful of businesses were located there, including an insurance office, a financial consulting firm, a legal services business and a phone repair store.People gathered outside the building after the shooting hoping to get word about loved ones.Paul Tovar told KTLA-TV that his brother owns a business there, Unified Homes, a mobile home broker. “He’s not answering his phone, neither’s my niece,” Tovar said. “I’m pretty scared and worried … right now I’m just praying really hard.”Charlie Espinoza also was outside the building and told The Orange County Register that he couldn’t reach his fiancé, who works for a medical billing company.Cody Lev, who lives across the street from the office building, told the newspaper he heard three loud pops that were spaced out, then three more. There was silence, then he heard numerous shots, followed by sirens and then more shots.A Facebook livestream posted by a resident who lives near the office appeared to show officers carrying a motionless person from the building and officers providing aid to another person.The killings follow a mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, last week that left 10 dead. A week before that six Asian women were among eight people killed in three Atlanta-area spas.The city of Orange is about 48 kilometers from Los Angeles and home to about 140,000 people. Amat said the shooting was the worst in the city since December 1997, when a gunman armed with an assault rifle attacked a California Department of Transportation maintenance yard.Arturo Reyes Torres, 41, an equipment operator who had been fired six weeks earlier, killed four people and wounded others, including a police officer, before police killed him.
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Georgia overhauled a Civil War-era law Wednesday that allowed residents to arrest anyone they suspected of committing a crime — a “citizen’s arrest” law invoked by the defense of the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery last year.The Arbery case garnered international outrage with civil rights activists saying it marked yet another example of a targeted attack on a Black man.The Georgia General Assembly approved the bill across party lines by wide margins in both the House and Senate, and now it is headed to Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who has said he will sign it.”Ahmaud was the victim of vigilante-style violence that has no place in Georgia,” Kemp told the media.Kemp said in a release the bill repealed “Civil War-era language in our laws that is ripe for abuse.”Republican Representative Bert Reeves, the primary sponsor of the bill, said the bill was a “common sense move that should have been done a long time ago. It achieves meaningful reform to prevent vigilantism.”The citizen’s arrest law came under scrutiny after the February 2020 death of Arbery, 25, who was chased down and shot dead as he jogged through his southern Georgia neighborhood. The shooting was caught on cellphone video that went viral.In the 1863 law, Georgia allowed any resident to arrest someone they suspect committed a crime, a law that critics say was enacted to detain people suspected of being runaway slaves.Prosecutors initially did not charge the three white men, citing the citizen’s arrest law as the reason, as all three said they believed that Arbery was a burglar.A former Glynn County police officer, Gregory McMichael, and his son Travis, were charged with murder and aggravated assault, but only after state authorities stepped in about two months after the shooting.A third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the McMichaels in chasing down Arbery, police say, and shot the video of the incident on his phone.Attorneys for the McMichaels did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, said that the citizen’s arrest law was one of the foundations of the defense for all three accused and that the General Assembly’s new measure did not change what was the law last year.Gerald Griggs, the vice president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the law needed to be abolished.”It allowed people to just go play police officer and when they don’t know what they’re doing,” Griggs said. “It was deadly in brother Ahmaud’s case.”No trial date has yet been set for the three.
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The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, continues for a third day in the U.S. state of Minnesota as more witnesses to Floyd’s final moments take the stand. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has this report.
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The Vietnamese American community in New York City remains cautious after city officials suspended a housing inspector for allegedly using a racist slur in a communication to a tenant after a heat and hot water inspection.Soon after that came the brutal daylight attack on an Asian woman near Times Square witnessed by onlookers who failed to intervene as her assailant kicked her in the head and shouted racial slurs and “You don’t belong here.”Nguyen Van, a longtime Bronx resident, who refused to disclose her family name, told VOA’s Vietnamese Service that she’s now “really scared” to get out, although she said she wasn’t aware of any anti-Asian hate incidents in her neighborhood. Other Vietnamese she knows have expressed similar concerns, she added.“I’m 76 years old, so I have to be very careful when I go out. I’m afraid if they hit me, I’ll fall,” she said. “I don’t get it why they would attack an Asian woman in the street, I feel so bad for her.”On March 24, Duc Pham received a letter from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) addressed to “Chin Chong.” The 22-year-immigrant who graduated from New York University last year posted a photo of the envelope on Facebook that evening.”On that letter, the recipient’s name is ‘Chin Chong,’ a word that disparages Chinese people in particular and Asians in general,” said Duc, a Facebook software engineer in New York. “It’s one of the racist terms often used to mock Asian people perceived to be Chinese.”The online outcry was immediate. “My god,” tweeted City Hall press secretary Bill Neidhardt. “This employee has been immediately suspended without pay as a full investigation has been launched. @NYCHousing has contacted the person who received this letter to apologize as well.”“This is infuriating,” tweeted City Council member Brad Lander. “Bias has no place in NYC — and especially not in an agency whose mission includes fair housing & equal justice.”This is infuriating. Bias has no place in NYC — and especially not in an agency whose mission includes fair housing & equal justice.We will follow up with @NYCHousing and @NYCCHR to make sure there’s an investigation & consequences. The inspector who did this should be fired. https://t.co/cfHlEqSLAx— Brad Lander (@bradlander) March 26, 2021By Friday, the inspector had been suspended without pay, according to @NYC Housing.“Update: the employee is suspended without pay & we’re conducting a full investigation to determine further disciplinary action. We’ve reached out to the individual affected to express profound apologies. Racism has no place in NYC. We stand with the AAPI community against hate.”Update: the employee is suspended without pay & we’re conducting a full investigation to determine further disciplinary action. We’ve reached out to the individual affected to express profound apologies. Racism has no place in NYC. We stand with the AAPI community against hate.— NYC Housing (@NYCHousing) March 26, 2021Duc told VOA that the inspector, who did not ask for his name, was “professional and polite.” According to the New York Post, the inspector was responding to a complaint about heat and hot water filed by other tenants in the Manhattan fifth-floor walk-up.”I think this is a very serious mistake committed by a city inspector, especially in the situation where the entire U.S. is talking about racism against Asians,” Duc told VOA.“The HPD sent a representative to my place to apologize to me and they told me they were investigating the incident and that the inspector has been suspended,” he added. “What I hope is they would investigate not only this incident but also a culture of behavior at the HPD in particular and of the city in general, and then take practical actions — for example, refreshing training for office employees.”On March 25, the New York Police Department (NYPD) launched a plainclothes push to contain the surge in anti-Asian incidents.The department is sending undercover officers to the city’s Chinatowns and other areas with significant Asian populations to try to prevent and disrupt attacks, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news conference, according to The Associated Press.Chief of Department Rodney Harrison described the complement, all of whom are of Asian descent, as a “robust team.” Shea also announced at the press conference that Inspector Tommy Ng will head the department’s Asian Hate Crime Task Force, replacing the retiring Deputy Inspector Stewart Loo.The NYPD has tallied 26 anti-Asian incidents this year, including 12 assaults, compared with eight stemming from misplaced blame for the coronavirus pandemic at the same time last year, according to Deputy Inspector Jessica Corey, commanding officer of the department’s Hate Crimes Task Force.That tally was made before the Times Square attack, which New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called “absolutely disgusting and outrageous.” He urged New Yorkers to intervene when they see assaults, according to The New York Times.The NYPD tweeted video footage of the attack and asked for help in finding the attacker.🚨WANTED for ASSAULT: Do you know this guy? On 3/29/21 at approx 11:40 AM, in front of 360 W 43 St in Manhattan, the suspect punched and kicked a 65-year-old woman while making anti-Asian statements. Any info? DM @NYPDTips or anonymously call them at 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/WRE4kSHtRG— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) March 30, 2021On Wednesday, police arrested and charged Brandon Elliot, 38, with felony assault as a hate crime. Elliot, who was released from prison in 2019, was on lifetime parole after the stabbing death of his mother in 2002, according to police.The NYPD identified the victim of the Times Square attack as Vilma Kari, a 65-year-old woman who had immigrated to the United States from the Philippines.Tara Thu Nguyen, a Queens resident in her 50s, told VOA the recent attacks on Asians across the U.S. have made her very cautious.New York accounted for the largest surge from three hate crimes targeting Asians in 2019 to 28 in 2020, an 833% increase, according to a study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino. While hate crimes decreased overall by 7% last year, those targeting Asian people rose by nearly 150%.“If I absolutely need to get out for essential things, I’ll be more cautious but won’t get scared or nervous,” she said.Her children had voiced their concern about recent anti-Asian attacks, she said, and urged her not to stay out for too long or too late, offering their company or ride-share services.Older people should have a companion when they go out, said Nguyen.“I think the most important thing is know what we need to do, [what] precautionary measures we can take, then we should be fine.”This story originated in VOA’s Vietnamese Service.  
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A parolee convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago was arrested on assault and hate crime charges in an attack on an Asian American woman in New York City, police said Wednesday.Police said Brandon Elliot, 38, is the man seen on surveillance video kicking and stomping the woman near Times Square on Monday. The woman was attacked in front of an apartment building.Two lobby workers witnessed the violence, but no one intervened or called 911, police said. Their union said Wednesday they told a union representative that they waited until the attacker left because he had a knife and then flagged down a police car.Elliot lived at a hotel that serves as a homeless shelter a few blocks from the attack scene, police said. He was taken into custody at the hotel around midnight. Tips from the public led to his apprehension, police said.’We need real safety nets’Elliot was convicted of stabbing his mother to death in the Bronx in 2002, when he was 19. He was released from prison in 2019 and is on lifetime parole. The parole board had previously twice denied his release. His record also included an arrest for robbery in 2000.”For the life of me, I don’t understand why we are releasing or pushing people out of prison — not to give them second chances, but to put them into homeless facilities or shelters, or in this case a hotel — and expect good outcomes,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news conference Wednesday. “We need real opportunities. We need real safety nets.”Elliot, who is Black, faces charges of assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault. It wasn’t immediately known whether he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. He was expected to be arraigned by video Wednesday.Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said prosecutors will seek to have Elliot jailed without bail pending trial. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, Vance said.A law enforcement official identified the victim as 65-year-old Vilma Kari. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. Kari’s daughter told The New York Times that she emigrated from the Philippines several decades ago.Kari, who was repeatedly kicked and stomped, suffered serious injuries including a fractured pelvis, the law enforcement official said. She was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, a hospital spokesperson said. Kari has been speaking to police, Shea said.Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez said the victim is Filipina American.The country’s foreign secretary, Teodoro Locsin Jr., condemned the attack, writing on Twitter: “This is gravely noted and will influence Philippine foreign policy.” He didn’t elaborate how.The Philippines and United States are longtime treaty allies, but Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte is a vocal critic of U.S. security policies who has moved to terminate a key agreement that allows largescale military exercises with U.S. forces in the Philippines.”I might as well say it, so no one on the other side can say, ‘We didn’t know you took racial brutality against Filipinos at all seriously.’ We do,” Locsin said.’You don’t belong here’Kari was walking to church when police say Elliot kicked her in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, stomped on her face, shouted anti-Asian slurs and told her, “You don’t belong here” before casually walking away as onlookers watched. Shea called it a “completely unprovoked violent attack on an innocent, defenseless woman.”Monday’s attack, among the latest in a national spike in anti-Asian hate crimes, drew widespread condemnation and concerns about the failure of bystanders to intervene. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the attack “absolutely disgusting and outrageous” and said it was “absolutely unacceptable” that witnesses didn’t help the woman.The attack happened just weeks after a mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent, and just a few days after a 65-year-old Asian American woman in the same midtown Manhattan neighborhood was threatened and heckled with anti-Asian slurs.The surge in violence has been linked in part to misplaced blame for the coronavirus pandemic and former President Donald Trump’s use of terms like “Chinese virus.””This brave woman belongs here,” Vance said. “Asian American New Yorkers belong here. Everyone belongs here.”The late morning attack happened in front of a luxury apartment building in Hell’s Kitchen, west of Times Square. Two lobby workers, described by their union as doormen, were seen on video witnessing the attack but failing to help Kari. One of them was seen closing the building’s door as she was on the ground.The building’s management company said the workers were suspended pending an investigation. The workers’ union, SEIU 32BJ, initially said that they immediately called for help. A spokesperson clarified Wednesday that the workers waited until the assailant walked away to check on Kari and flag down a nearby patrol car.Residents of the building also defended the workers, saying in a letter Wednesday that a widely seen video clip focusing on the assault cut off before they could be seen giving the victim aid and alerting medics.Detective Michael Rodriguez said Wednesday that patrol officers driving by came upon the victim after she was assaulted.The Associated Press has requested the full video from the building’s management company. The company has not responded.Increasing attacksThis year in New York City, there have been 33 hate crimes with an Asian victim as of Sunday, police said. There were 11 such attacks by the same time last year. The NYPD last week said it was increasing patrols in Asian neighborhoods, including using undercover officers to prevent and disrupt attacks.Joo Han, the deputy director of the Asian American Federation, called the plainclothes patrols a “knee-jerk response” that ignored misgivings she said many people in Asian communities have about law enforcement.”That wasn’t something that was done in conversation with community leaders,” Han said. “That’s not something that we would have recommended. That’s not safe for a lot of folks who may not have status, who don’t have comfortable interactions with NYPD.” 
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The Supreme Court in the state of Wisconsin Wednesday struck down Governor Tony Evers’ statewide mask mandate, ruling that the Democrat exceeded his authority by unilaterally extending the mandate for months through multiple emergency orders.
 
The conservative-controlled court voted 4-3 to strike down the “safer at home” order, saying that his health secretary did not have the authority to issue such an order.
 
Announcing the decision for the majority, Justice Brian Hagedorn said, “The question in this case is not whether the governor acted wisely; it is whether he acted lawfully. We conclude he did not.”
 
The ruling comes after Republicans in the state legislature voted to repeal the mask mandate in February, only to see Evers quickly re-issue it. State law says governors may issue health emergencies for 60 days at which point the legislature must approve an extension.
 
Evers has argued he may issue new emergencies because the coronavirus pandemic’s threat has changed.
 
The court last May struck down the governor’s attempts to limit capacity in bars, restaurants and other indoor places.
 
The new ruling comes on the same day as a White House COVID-19 advisor called on all state governors to maintain or re-instate mask mandates in their states as new virus cases continue to rise in the nation.
 
Earlier this month, five states allowed their mandates to expire, joining another 11 states that never implemented mask mandates at all.
 
At a White House briefing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky said the most recent figures show the U.S. seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is up by 12% over the previous week.
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