Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is playing hardball to stop city and county governments from making wearing masks in public mandatory.
According to Business Insider, Gov. Ricketts threatened to withhold $100 million in federal relief funds if they did so.
Wearing a mask is a measure widely encouraged by public health officials to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19.
Local officials say they have little choice but to comply with the governor's order.
The order comes as over a dozen states battle a surge of coronavirus infections, many of which had moved to reopen businesses in recent weeks.
In Nebraska, there have been at least 17,226 recorded coronavirus infections, and is still reporting over 100 infections each day.
The United States has so far seen over 120,000 people die from the illness.
