Why Colorado's Democratic Governor Broke From His Party On Mask Mandates

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Democrat Jared Polis ended Colorado's statewide mask mandate in the summer of 2021 and didn't reinstate it during later coronavirus surges. In an interview with the NPR Politics Podcast, Polis suggested that prioritizing vaccine and testing availability over masking helped the state achieve a high rate of immunization and relatively low death rate.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, this is Kaz calling from Boston, Massachusetts, where I would like to express my solidarity
0:05.5	with Iisha Roscoe by declaring that I, too, am terrified of birds.
0:11.0	This podcast was recorded at 111 pm on Wednesday, March 9th.
0:16.9	Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but I will still be frantically running
0:20.4	away from the turkeys that are slowly taking over the city.
0:24.1	Enjoy the show.
0:25.6	Turkey is taking over the city?
0:30.6	Where is that happening?
0:31.9	Oh yeah, while turkeys are no joke, I once did a story about turkeys that had taken over
0:38.2	a cemetery and they were serious birds.
0:42.7	We know my feelings about turkeys, so.
0:44.7	Indeed we do.
0:46.4	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.
0:49.0	I'm Tamer Keith, I cover the White House.
0:51.1	I'm Dominic Almonton, our senior political editor and correspondent.
0:54.6	Today on the podcast, a conversation with Colorado's governor, Democrat Jared Polis.
1:00.6	He's running for reelection and the Cook Political Report rates this race as insolid democratic
1:06.7	territory.
1:07.7	Domenico, he is pretty popular in his state and it's partially attributed to how he has
1:14.4	handled COVID health and safety measures.
1:17.9	He's been a really interesting governor when it comes to how he's dealt with COVID because
1:21.8	we've seen a real split, this blue red divide across the country about wearing masks, not
	...

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