A county in rural Missouri will halt almost all of its pandemic measures following an order from the state’s attorney general to drop mask mandates and quarantine rules, among other preventive policies that aim to curb coronavirus infections.

The move by Laclede County, home to about 36,000 people, means health officials will stop investigating COVID-19 cases, contact tracing and issuing quarantine orders. “While this is a huge concern … we have no other options but to follow the orders of the Missouri Attorney General at this time,” the county’s health department reportedly said.

Laclede County has seen a rise in new infections since last month, according to figures compiled by Missouri’s state health department. Missouri overall has also been recording an increase in cases, Washington Post figures show.

News of the county’s action was first reported by the Springfield News-Leader.

Eric Schmitt, the Republican attorney general, has been vigorously pushing school districts and health agencies in the state to drop coronavirus prevention measures that have been adopted globally during the nearly two-year-long pandemic, such as mask-wearing and quarantining.

Schmitt’s actions are based on a November ruling by a circuit court in Cole County that said the state’s health department cannot delegate disease-control authority to local health departments, like that of Laclede County, because that would give rulemaking powers to unelected officials.

Instead of defending the state health department’s authority to delegate public health decisions, Schmitt sent letters to schools and health agencies this week requiring them to stop enforcing mask mandates and quarantine orders.

“Failure to follow the court’s judgment may result in enforcement action against you,” Schmitt says in the letter. “We encourage you to take immediate action.”

Schmitt has been seeking to represent the state in the U.S. Senate, announcing a bid in March. In a move that appears to reflect his ambitions to jump into national politics, Schmitt sent an open letter Wednesday to President Biden, who was visiting Kansas City, Missouri’s most populous city, to promote his recently enacted infrastructure bill.

In his letter, Schmitt repeats his objections to federal vaccination mandates imposed by the Biden administration, which he has sought to dismantle through lawsuits. Schmitt sued China’s government last year, accusing it of lying about, then failing to contain the coronavirus.

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