Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will lift the state’s masking mandate and announce that affairs may reopen at full capacity within a week.
“It’s now time to open Texas 100 percent,” Abbott said Tuesday afternoon at Montelongo’s Mexican restaurant in Lubbock.
“Covid did not suddenly disappear,” he said, “but state mandates are no longer necessary.”
Abbott said his new executive order would revoke “most” of his previous Covid-19 executive orders, and that all businesses would be allowed to open “100 percent” from March 10.
At the end of the masked mandate, Texas’ population of 29 million becomes the largest state to end a rule to delay the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
This is an evolving story. Come check back for updates.
