Gov. Greg Abbott announced he will be reopening Texas “100%” and ending the Lone Star State’s mask mandate, effective next week.
“This must end,” he said during a Tuesday press conference in Lubbock. “It is now time to open Texas 100%. Everybody who wants to work should have that opportunity. Every business that wants to be open should be open.”
“I am issuing a new executive order that rescinds most of the earlier executive orders. Effective next Wednesday, all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100%. That includes any type of entity in Texas. Also, I am ending the statewide mask mandate,” he said.
The governor cited the state’s abundance of testing facilities, personal protective gear, and vaccinations as primary drivers behind his decision. Abbott is set to issue an executive order on the new policies taking effect on March 10.
GREG ABBOTT RULES OUT ANY CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWNS IN TEXAS
Texas previously had a host of restrictions on gatherings, businesses, and religious worship centers. State officials mandated social distancing practices, bars were limited to six people per table, and face masks were required for barbershop employees, among other ordinances.
The announcement follows a warning from Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who indicated that “now is not the time” to “relax” COVID-19 regulations.
“Please hear me clearly,” she said. “At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.”
“Now is not the time to relax the critical safeguards that we know could stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities, not when we are so close.”
However, Abbott told his constituents that “removing statewide mandates does not end personal responsibility.”
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Texas has seen a sharp decline in coronavirus cases after the state reported an 18% decrease in positive virus numbers over the last 14 days. Deaths were down 13% and hospitalizations plummeted by 27% at the time of publishing.
The state has accrued more than 2.6 million COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic, with over 44,000 deaths attributed to the virus, a number that is only dwarfed by New York and California.
