Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Sunday defended his decision to approve a statewide ban on face mask mandates earlier this year, citing a low coronavirus case rate at the time – a rate that is now rapidly rising.

“Well, that was the will of the General Assembly. I signed it. At that point we had very low case rates in Arkansas and people knew exactly what to do. They were capable of making their decisions,” Hutchinson, a Republican, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked about his decision to approve the ban in April.

The governor added that when he approved