RICKETTS DEFENDS HIS STANCE THAT MASK MANDATES ARE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE, WOULD ENCOURAGE RESISTANCE

LINCOLN - Under a flurry of questions from reporters, Gov. Pete Ricketts on Wednesday defended his position that mandates to wear masks to fend off COVID-19 — like one being considered in Omaha and one in place in Lincoln — are counterproductive.

"Mandates would actually encourage resistance and we'd get less people using masks," Ricketts said.

The conservative Republican governor, during a press conference on a different subject on Wednesday, faced a bevy of questions about his threat to file a lawsuit if the Douglas County Health Director, Adi Pour, carried out a plan to mandate mask wearing in the county.

When asked if a mask mandate would aid Omaha residents in fighting off the coronavirus, Ricketts said Wednesday that he didn't think so. Asking people to "do the right thing" — as Ricketts regularly does at his press events — is more effective than using the "heavy hand" of government, he said.

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