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Faced with a rising tide of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, St. Louis and St. Louis County leaders announced Friday that they will reinstate a mask requirement, for vaccinated and unvaccinated residents alike. It is one of a few regions in the country to mandate masks again. “We’ve lost more than 500 St. Louisans to COVID-19, and if our region doesn’t work together to protect one another, we could see spikes that overwhelm our hospital and public health systems,” St. Louis acting health director Dr. Fredrick Echols said in a statement. (Merrilees, 7/24)

Political opposition to a new mask mandate in St. Louis and St. Louis County appears to be building, with several state and local elected officials vowing to stop the public health orders set to go into effect on Monday. ... Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin, and St. Louis County Councilmen Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, and Mark Harder, R-7th District, are among officials politicians voicing opposition to the new orders. (Robertson, 7/25)

Many other local health authorities around the country are recommending that people mask indoors, as Philadelphia’s health department did on Thursday. New Orleans announced an “indoor mask advisory” the day before. Officials in other cities, including New York, have been more reluctant to call for greater mask use. One of the earliest U.S. epicenters of the pandemic, New York logged more than 33,000 deaths connected to the virus, and about two million adults there are still not vaccinated. A statewide mask mandate for vaccinated residents was lifted last month. (Paybarah, Slotnik and Jiménez, 7/25)

Officials in Provincetown, Massachusetts, voted unanimously during an emergency town meeting Sunday night to reimplement the town’s indoor mask mandate, amidst rapidly rising COVID-19 infections and community spread. Since data was last updated last week, the cluster has grown to a cumulative total of at least 551 confirmed cases following a busy July Fourth weekend. Of these cases, 394 individuals are Massachusetts residents, 171 of whom reside in Provincetown, while the remaining individuals who tested positive reside in other states or jurisdictions. (Mitropoulos, 7/25)

Gov. Kevin Stitt on Friday said he won't implement another state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic, ruling out the possibility of mask mandates in Oklahoma schools. Despite calls from some health leaders to make the declaration, Stitt said he is "not planning on declaring an emergency," a measure that is now a prerequisite for public schools to require masks. "This is about personal responsibility," Stitt said at a press conference in Tulsa. "This is about freedoms." (Martinez-Keel and Branham, 7/23)

Right-wing pastor Greg Locke used his Sunday morning sermon to ridicule any attempt by the government to vaccinate Americans or to enforce a "round two" of pandemic lockdown. He also declared he'll kick anyone out who wears a mask. The Tennessee-based Baptist pastor offered his latest tirade against "godless Democrats" and the Biden administration, claiming the federal government only wants "compliance," and not improved public health, among Americans. (Fearnow, 7/25)