Texas leaders attack Greg Abbott’s demise to mask mandate and business restrictions

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Mayors and county judges in some of the largest urban areas in Texas have criticized Governor Greg Abbott for his decision to suspend the facial mask mandate across the state next week, saying it contradicts advice from health officials since infections continue to spread across the state, which reached an average of 200 reported deaths per day in the past week.

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

“I am asking Governor Abbott to open additional vaccine categories so that more people are eligible to receive a vaccine, if they want to,” Price said in a statement. “Just as the state’s guideline has changed, so has our response. Now, more than ever, vaccines and tests must be readily available. “

City and county officials have asked residents in their areas to still follow the recommendations of health experts and authorities who call for the use of face masks in public.

“We need to focus not on what the governor says the law allows, but on what doctors, facts and science that we all know well at the moment tell us that it is necessary to keep us safe and give us the best chance of achieving herd immunity as quickly as possible, ”said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

In addition to removing the mandate from the mask next week, Abbott will allow companies to operate at full capacity. If COVID-19 hospitalizations in any of the 22 Texas hospital regions rise above 15% of capacity in that region for seven consecutive days, a county judge “can use COVID mitigation strategies in his county,” according to the governor.

But officials criticized the latter order because it does not allow local leaders to enforce their own masked mandates. The most recent order also removes an earlier option available to local leaders: forcing companies to require customers to wear face masks.

The order also states that nothing “prevents companies or other establishments from requiring their employees or customers to follow additional hygiene measures, including the use of a face cover”. This brought little relief to local leaders.

“I am very disappointed, it is an irresponsible action. We still have 464 people in the hospital and 199 in the ICU as of yesterday, ”said Judge Nelson Wolff of Bexar County. “We are not yet out of danger. And I think it’s too premature to do that. “

Texans and Americans of color were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. More than half of the deaths due to COVID-19 were black or Hispanic, and advocates reported that these communities were left behind in vaccination efforts. In Texas and across the country, frontline employees are predominantly women and are more likely to be black than other workers, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the US Census Bureau last year.

Wolff was the first county judge to force companies to impose the masks in June last year, after finding a gap in Abbott’s previous order that did not allow local leaders to establish mandates across the county. Now he said that he won’t be able to do that anymore.

“He plugged that hole. It allows companies to do what they want, ”said Wolff, who last year was attacked by a customer who refused to wear a mask. “Now, the police have no right to be called.”

Wolff said Abbott’s latest request leaves counties limited to encouraging people to wear masks and to distance themselves socially.

“That’s all we can do from what we interpret,” said Wolff.

Dallas, Harris and Travis county officials said their legal teams are still studying the order to clarify these aspects and what they can do.

In El Paso, a county that has seen more than 2,000 COVID-19-related deaths, county judge Ricardo Samaniego tweeted that Abbott’s mask order “would be tantamount to declaring that we don’t have to wear our seat belts … but it would be a good idea if we did. “

In a statement, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo questioned the timing of this announcement.

“With the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines, we are moving closer and closer to the finish line of this pandemic – now is not the time to reverse the gains that we have worked so hard to achieve,” said Hidalgo. “At best, today’s decision is an illusion. At worst, it is a cynical attempt to distract Texans from the failures of state supervision of our power grid. “

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

“We believe that it would be premature and harmful to do anything to lose the widespread adoption of this preventive measure. Scientific studies have repeatedly shown that the widespread use of face masks slows down the virus, ”says the letter. “Especially with the arrival of new variants of the virus in Texas and in our cities, with the associated increase in cases, it is even more important to preserve the most effective of our existing security measures.”

In San Antonio, Mayor Ron Nirenberg called the opening of companies with 100% capacity and, at the same time, the ban on masking mandates a “big mistake”.

“COVID-19 is still widespread in our community and infecting many of our vulnerable residents,” said Niremberg in a statement. “You don’t cut your parachute in the same way that it slows your descent. Join me to continue wearing a mask. “

In a statement, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson called residents to “continue to mask” and said “now is not the time to let your guard down.”

In Tarrant County, Judge Glen Whitley said he would withdraw his mandate from the mask today, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Last week, Whitley extended the requirement until May 25.

Disclosure: Steve Adler is a former chairman of the Texas Tribune board and financially supports Tribune, a non-profit, non-partisan news organization that is financed in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in Tribune journalism. Find a complete list of them here.