Greg Abbott says he’s breaking Texas mask rule, business capacity limits

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Governor Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday that he will end the term of the Texas state mask next week and will soon allow all companies to open at full capacity.

“Now it’s time to open Texas 100%,” said Abbott of a Mexican restaurant in Lubbock, arguing that Texas has fought the coronavirus pandemic to the point that “people and businesses don’t need the state to tell them how to operate” any longer.

Abbott said he was rescinding “most of the previous executive orders” he issued last year to stem the spread of the virus. He said starting next Wednesday, “all businesses of any kind can open 100%” and the masks will no longer be required in public.

The news comes at a time when the spread of the virus remains substantial across the state. Texas has an average of more than 200 reported deaths per day in the past week.

Still, the change is not entirely surprising. Abbott said on Thursday that his office was evaluating when he could suspend all coronavirus orders across the state and that he would have ads “soon”. Texas will be the most populous state in the country without a masked mandate. More than 30 states currently have one in operation.

The current trajectory of the virus has been difficult to measure in recent days due to last month’s winter storm, which has forced many large counties to close their test centers and not report any cases. Daily confirmed cases and deaths are clearly low compared to the statewide peak in January. Hospitalization data has been less disrupted, however, and has shown a consistent decline since the end of January.

But only 6.5% of Texans were fully vaccinated by Sunday, although Abbott is optimistic that the pace will increase as more vaccines are made available in Texas.

Experts say Texas is far from achieving collective immunity. Reaching the 70% to 80% level that many estimate to be necessary would mean vaccinating about 22 million people, or nearly 100% of adults in the state, according to census figures. Vaccines are currently not approved for children under 16, who represent about 23% of the population.

Scientists are still unsure whether or how well vaccines prevent the virus from spreading, although some preliminary research has suggested that some vaccines may be able to do this to some extent.

The Center for Disease Control recommends that people who receive two doses of the vaccine continue to avoid crowds, stay at least 1.8 meters away from people who live outside their homes and wear masks to cover their nose and mouth.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious doctor, has said repeatedly that he does not know when Americans will be able to return to normal, but that they may still need to continue wearing face masks until 2022.

Chris Essig contributed reporting.