Samuel Case, FISM News
[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order on Tuesday that will fine any locality for requiring masks. Counties, cities, and government agencies that require masks could face a $1,000 fine. Certain public entities, including state-funded living centers, public hospitals, and criminal justice facilities, are included in the order. Public schools can still require masks until June 4th, after which they will also be included in the legislation.
TX is prohibiting mask mandates by gov’t entities.
Starting May 21, local govts attempting to impose mask mandates can be fined up to $1K.
We're also prohibiting public schools from mandating masks after June 4.
Texans, not gov’t, should decide their best health practices. pic.twitter.com/M7iN4sLBJV
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 18, 2021
Governor Abbott announced in March that Texas was ending its mask mandate and opening up to 100% capacity. FISM News reported at the time that Abbott cited the amount of vaccines that have been distributed, the high recovery rate of COVID-19 patients, and the declining number of cases as reasons that it was the right time to safely open the state.
FISM News also reported that Sunday, Texas announced it had zero COVID-19 deaths for the first time since March 21, 2020. Monday’s data from the Lone Star State was not as exciting, however, as it showed 23 new COVID cases, making for the highest Monday death count in close to two months.