Starting immediately, residents of Houston who fail to wear protective face coverings will be subject to a $250 fine.
On Monday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he had instructed police officers in the city to enforce a statewide mask mandate issued by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott at the beginning of last month.
“For months, we have been focusing on education and not citations, but now, I am instructing the Houston Police Department to issue the necessary warnings and citations to anyone not wearing a mask in public if they do not meet the criteria for an exemption,” Turner said.
The announcement comes amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the Houston area, where more than 1,000 new cases were reported by local health officials on Monday.
Turner added that too many “house parties, street parties, backyard parties, and no masks” prompted his decision to act aggressively to get the public to follow public health guidance.
Police Chief Art Acevedo backed Turner’s order and noted the surge in cases among officers in the city has been alarming in the past several weeks as more than 100 officers have tested positive for the highly contagious disease.
