Texas leaders explode Greg Abbott’s end to hide mandate and business restrictions

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Mayors and county judges in some of Texas’ largest urban areas have criticized Government Greg Abbott for his decision to lift the nationwide face-mask mandate next week, saying it violates the advice of health officials as infections continue to spread across the state, which an average of 200 reported deaths a day in the past week.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, a fellow Republican, called Abbott’s order “premature” and asked him to allow more people to get the vaccine.

“I urge Gov. Abbott to open up additional categories of vaccine levels so that more people are eligible to receive a vaccine if they want it,” Price said in a statement. “Since the prescription of the state has changed, we must do the same. More than ever before, vaccines and testing must be readily available. ”

City and county officials have urged residents in their areas to continue to follow recommendations from health experts and officials who call for wearing face masks in public.

‘We do not have to focus on what the governor says to you according to the law, but what doctors and the facts and the science we know well at this stage are necessary to keep us safe and give us the best chance to to reach herd. immunity as soon as possible, ”said Dallas judge Clay Jenkins.

In addition to lifting the mask mandate next week, Abbott will also allow businesses to operate at full capacity. If COVID-19 hospitalizations in any of Texas’ 22 hospital districts increase more than 15% of the capacity in that region for seven days, a county judge may use COVID mitigation strategies according to the governor.

But officials have issued the latest order because local leaders do not allow it to enforce their own mask mandates. The latest order also removes a previous option that local leaders had available: forcing businesses to demand that customers wear face masks.

The order also states that nothing “prevents businesses or other businesses from requiring employees or customers to follow additional hygiene measures, including wearing a face mask.” This has brought little relief to local leaders.

‘I’m very disappointed. This is an irresponsible act. “We still have 464 people in hospital this morning and 199 in ICU,” said Bexar judge Nelson Wolff. “We are still not out of the woods. And I think it’s very premature to do that. ”

Texans and Americans of color have been excessively affected by the pandemic. More than half of the deaths due to COVID-19 were black or Hispanic people, and advocates reported that these communities fell behind in the vaccination efforts. In Texas and across the state, frontline employees are predominantly women and are more likely to have coloreds than other workers, according to an Associated Press analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s data last year.

Wolff was the first county judge to force businesses to give masks in June last year, after finding a loophole in Abbott’s previous order that did not allow local leaders to draw up nationwide mandates. Now he said he would not be able to do that anymore.

He plugged the hole. He allows businesses to do what they want to do, ”said Wolff, who was attacked last year by a customer who did not want to use a mask. “Now law enforcement has no right to be appealed to.”

Wolff said Abbott’s latest mandate limits provinces to encouraging people to wear masks and social distance.

“It’s just about what we can interpret,” Wolff said.

State officials from Dallas, Harris and Travis said their legal teams are still studying the order to explain these aspects and what they may do.

In El Paso, a country with more than 2,000 deaths related to COVID-19, District Judge Ricardo Samaniego tweeted that Abbott’s instruction on masks “would be tantamount to him saying he did not have to wear our seat belts. not … but it would be a good idea if we did. ‘

In a statement, Harris Judge Lina Hidalgo questioned the moment for this announcement.

“With the advent of COVID-19 vaccines, we are getting closer to the finish line of this pandemic. Now is not the time to reverse the gains we have been working so hard on,” Hidalgo said. ‘The best decision of today is wishful thinking. At worst, it’s a cynical attempt to distract Texans’ attention from the failures of state oversight of our power grid. ”

Before the press conference, Houston Mayor Hidalgo and Sylvester Turner sent a letter to Abbott asking him to keep the mask requirement in place. Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis Judge Andy Brown wrote a letter with the same message.

‘We believe it would be premature and harmful to do anything to lose the preventative measure on a large scale. “Scientific studies have repeatedly shown that the wearing of face masks is widespread,” reads the letter. “Especially with the arrival of new variants of the virus to Texas and our cities, with the concomitant increase in cases, maintaining the most effective of our existing security measures is even more important.”

In San Antonio, Mayor Ron Nirenberg called the opening of businesses with 100% capacity and at the same time the ban on mask mandates a ‘big mistake’.

“COVID-19 is still widespread in our community and infects too many of our vulnerable residents,” Niremberg said in a statement. ‘You do not cut off your parachute just as you delayed your descent. Please join me in continuing to wear a mask. ‘

In a statement, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson called on residents to “continue to disguise themselves” and said that “now is not the time to let our guard down.”

According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Judge Glen Whitley in Tarrant County said he would lift the mask mandate today. Last week, Whitley extended the requirement to May 25.

Disclosure: Steve Adler is a former chairman of the Texas Tribune Board and was a financial backer of the Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of these.