A new report says that Missouri's new health director delivered the results of a recent study to Gov. Mike Parson's administration stating that mask mandates had been shown effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Parson's administration buried the memo, almost certainly because the study results undermined the prevailing Republican wisdom that mask mandates are plots by Democrats to destroy freedom.

Parson himself has joined more radical elements of his party, including state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, in attacking government mandates to fight the pandemic. "Dictating mask mandates when we have the vaccine is ignoring the real solution and eroding public trust ...," Parson tweeted in July. "The vaccine is how we rid ourselves of COVID-19, not mask mandates that ignore common sense."

Parson even sought to undermine vaccination mandates, issuing an executive order countermanding President Joe Biden's vaccine requirement for federal workers and companies employing more than 100 people.

Since the governor raised the issue of common sense, let's run with that idea. When Donald Kauerauf, the state health director Parson appointed in July, tells the governor that mask mandates work, common sense would dictate that the governor would not deliberately try to undermine that lifesaving message. Common sense would dictate that Parson would challenge those in his own party to fight the pandemic, not those advocating stronger health measures. But in Parson's world, common sense takes a back seat to politics every time.

According to the Missouri Independent, the Department of Health and Senior Services conducted an analysis comparing infection rates in Missouri urban areas versus nonurban areas to get a before-and-after picture of mask mandates. The analysis found that urban areas had higher infection rates before mask mandates were imposed, but after imposition, infection rates went down while rates in nonurban (mandate-free) areas went up. Emails and graphs obtained by the Documenting COVID-19 project at The Brown Institute for Media Innovation showed sharply higher death rates for unmasked versus masked populations.

Kauerauf wrote in a Nov. 3 email that the analysis demonstrated the effectiveness of mask mandates.

Not only were the findings excluded from briefing materials for Parson's cabinet meetings, but the administration also withheld the information from the public. So much for common sense.

Parson's war on mandates is doubly curious considering his position early in the pandemic, when infection rates were soaring and calls were growing for him to order statewide precautions. Back then Parson justified empowering local officials to manage their own pandemic responses, saying, "That's their business. I trust the people in those positions. These people are elected to do these positions."

Yet he remains silent as Schmitt files lawsuits to prevent local governments from imposing mask mandates. As we said, when it's a battle between common sense and politics, with Parson and his party, common sense loses out every time.

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