A politician in a Covid hotspot has sparked fury by announcing he is waiting for guidance from the Holy Spirit about whether to impose a face mask rule.

Bill Newman, the mayor of Lincoln County in Tennessee, insisted he would wait for advice from above about face coverings, despite cases in his county soaring.

Newman, who also works as a veterinarian, said: ‘I do believe masking helps prevent the spread of it, but I don’t feel I should mandate people wearing masks at this time.

‘The Holy Spirit dwells within us. When I pray for guidance, I may not know the answer immediately.’ Newman made the declaration despite his county seeing 1,300 Covid-19 cases among its 34,000 residents, meaning more than one in 30 locals have been hit by the disease.

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Many local residents are annoyed by Newman using his religious beliefs to drag out a decision that could directly impact their health.

Brad Bates, from Fayetteville, said: ‘I don’t feel comfortable at all and yes it’s very worrisome.

‘Not following the science, and taking actions to protect other people, doesn’t feel very Christian to me.’

And members of a local Facebook group have even accused Newman of making a mockery of Christianity. One commenter wrote: ‘The Holy Spirit will never advise us to do anything harmful to others. He is making a mockery of it.’

Others told WHNT they were on the mayor’s side, including local nurse Angie Farler.

She explained: ‘If he is led by the Holy Spirit, and he thinks that there should be a mask mandate, then if God tells him, maybe there should be. Maybe that’s what he needs to do.’

And Jack Campbell said: ‘I’m with the mayor on that. I don’t believe we should wear masks.’

Tennessee is one of 14 US states with no rules on wearing face masks in public. Health experts say they can help prevent Covid infections.

The United States has so-far seen 12.4million Covid cases, and 257,707 deaths.

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