MONTGOMERY — Gov. Kay Ivey announced today she has extended a statewide mask order that has been in place since July.

The governor held a press conference today to discuss the pandemic.

The mask order was slated to end at 5 p.m. Friday without an extension. It was extended until Friday, April 9, 2021 at 5:00 p.m.

Medical officials have urged the governor to extend the order, arguing that easing restrictions before more people are vaccinated could reverse the recent improvements.

But Ivey has faced political pressure to lift the mask order as some other Southern states have done.

Ivey has said she prefers “personal responsibility” to government mandates and the state is headed in the right direction, yet “we still have some work to be done,” spokeswoman Gina Maiola said Monday.

This is her her twenty-third supplemental emergency proclamation extending the Safer at Home Order.