On 'Face the Nation,' Gov. Sununu likens mask mandate to time in 'penalty box'

Dec. 13—Gov. Chris Sununu defended not having a mask mandate in New Hampshire despite rising COVID-19 cases, saying for fully vaccinated people who have received booster shots it's like serving time in a "penalty box."

Sununu made the comments during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

New Hampshire has the highest number of recent COVID-19 cases per capita in the U.S., with 1,416 new cases and 10,138 total active cases reported as of Friday, according to state health officials.

CBS' "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan asked Sununu why he isn't putting a mask mandate in place, referencing a comment earlier in the show by former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb that a mask mandate is "one of the lightest lift health precautions you could possibly do."

"Almost no state has mask mandates right now," said Sununu. "But as a governor, if you were to do that, every district, every county, whether you have high transmission levels, whether you're highly vaccinated or not, it covers everybody. And what you're really telling folks is thank you for making the sacrifice and getting the vaccine, getting the boosters, doing the right thing and you're still in the penalty box."

"Well ..." said Brennan.

"And the fact of the matter is COVID isn't going away anytime soon," said Sununu.

"It's not a penalty box," said Brennan. "I mean, for people with unvaccinated family members, small children, immunocompromised. It's just putting on a mask."

Sununu responded by asking if he were to put a mask mandate in place now, "when do I undo it?"

"COVID isn't going away for the next couple of years," said Sununu.

Sununu called the wearing of masks "incredibly important," and said schools and localities can enact mask mandates if they want to.

"But when you look at all these different mandates that you can or cannot put in place (there) is always a downside as well," said Sununu.

"And we talk about the Swiss cheese effect, right? Social distancing, mask ... far and away the most important thing is get vaccinated, get your boosters quick access to testing. These are all pieces of the puzzle to reduce the transmission of the virus, so it's just not a matter of whether we do it or not. And remember, you know, a lot of these cases are received over the holidays when you're spending time with family or — or you're at the workplace. And again, a mask isn't necessarily going to stop the family spread that we see a lot here."

Sununu said that he doesn't want to continually put mandates in place, then lift them, then put them in place again.

"We're going to have omicron; we are going to have new variants," said Sununu. "At the end of the day, it's about personal responsibility. Getting that vaccine, getting that booster, being smart about it, getting yourself tested early. All of these are the most important pieces of the puzzle to bending the curve and making sure we push back on COVID."

Sununu told Brennan the rate of New Hampshire residents getting booster shots has picked up recently, and highlighted the state's "Booster Blitz" campaign held Saturday.

"When the booster was first made available in the first couple of weeks, people really weren't taking it," said Sununu. "Now they're seeing the hospitalizations rise. You're seeing, unfortunately, their friends, neighbors and co-workers come down with this very aggressive Delta variant. They're taking it a little more seriously, and we have a lot more folks going after the booster, which is hugely important in terms of not just preventing COVID, but most importantly, preventing the most severe aspects of COVID."

Sununu said 12,000 shots were administered during Saturday's Booster Blitz, with another being planned for January.

Sununu also mentioned the state's recent offer that saw residents claim 900,000 free at-home tests in just 24 hours.

"We're the first state in the country to allow home testing," said Sununu, adding that the state will keep doing similar programs to battle the surge.

pfeely@unionleader.com