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Americans found out just how powerful governors in this country really are when the pandemic began and they shut down nearly everything in their states to try and curb the spread of COVID-19. Now with a new variant of the virus spreading and causing concern for what is to come this winter, Virginia will be transitioning to new executive leadership at the beginning of the new year.
Virginia was the only state during the pandemic to have a medical doctor as governor. On Jan. 15, however, Republican Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin will be sworn in as Virginia’s next governor.
Youngkin, a former finance executive, strongly encouraged his supporters to get the vaccine during the campaign — however, he also pushed back against any type of mandates for the shot or masks enacted by current Governor Ralph Northam.
A spokesperson for Youngkin referred Virginia Scope to his recent comments on the Joe Thomas show when asked if his stances on COVID-19 protocols remain the same as they did during the campaign. “I’m gonna choose every authority that I have as governor in order to combat what I believe are not correct mandates and therefore I’m gonna rescind them,” Youngkin said during the interview with Thomas.
Earlier this year, Northam issued an executive order requiring anyone within a public school building to wear a mask. He also mandated that state employees be vaccinated or receive weekly Covid tests. Youngkin pushed back against both of those orders during his campaign for governor and is continuing to do so now. “I will rescind Executive Order 18 for state employees, they will not be mandated to wear masks or get vaccines,” Youngkin told Thomas.
The gov-elect continued during the interview to say that he will drop the requirements for students to wear masks in schools by leaving the choice up to parents, a big theme from his campaign. “I will appoint a new health commissioner and we will rescind the public health order that requires kids in K-12 education to wear a mask in order to attend both public and private schools,” Youngkin said. “This has been my position, this continues to be my position that we in fact are going to respect the individual ability to make these decisions with regards to the vaccine and particularly with parents’ ability to make decisions with regards to their children.”
Youngkin’s staff told Virginia Scope on Monday that they do not have an official statement as to who will serve as health commissioner under the new gubernatorial administration.
The Omicron variant was first discovered in South Africa and is beginning to be found in other countries around the world. It is not clear yet whether the current vaccine will be effective against protecting individuals from serious illness if they contract this new variant.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stressed over the weekend that Americans need to take this time to prepare for the new variant to start spreading here.
“As we all know, when you have a virus that has already gone to multiple countries, inevitably it will be here,” Fauci said. “The question is: Will we be prepared for it?”
Youngkin’s inauguration date is Jan. 15.
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