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AUSTIN, Texas – The dilemma looked familiar. A prominent, ambitious red state governor who had opposed mask mandates and other aggressive measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 suddenly found himself on the defensive as cases and hospital stays in his state soared.
First it was Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. Now it is Texas Governor Greg Abbott who is facing scathing criticism as Austin intensive care beds have shrunk to single digits and San Antonio health officials have rated the risk level just one step below critical. But Mr. Abbott remains firm in his refusal to give a statewide mandate while banning local officials in their own communities.
The fear and frustration comes as schools in the country’s second most populous state stand ready to reopen, raising concerns about further spread of the virus.
“The governor has shown a callous disregard for life and safety, despite clear medical instructions, and is risking the safety of our children and the recovery of our economy,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Mr Abbott said he was focused on personal responsibility but failed to address the specifics of the state’s Covid crisis.
“Governor Abbott has made it clear that we must rely on personal responsibility, not government mandates,” the statement said. “Every Texan has the right to decide for himself and his children whether to wear masks, open his shops or get vaccinated.”
It added that while all eligible Texans have been urged to get vaccinated, the vaccine itself “will always remain voluntary and will never be coerced in Texas”.
Despite his current tough line, Mr. Abbott has had different approaches to the pandemic.
His previous statewide restrictions, which he began running in March last year, included limiting social gatherings to 10 people and closing some businesses like gyms. Those that stayed open had limited capacity. He issued a mask mandate last July, as cases increased across the state.
The state overturned mandates last March, citing the availability of vaccines and its own forecast that seven million people in the state would be vaccinated by mid-March.
But in the months since then, when the Delta variant tore up bullish forecasts across the country, coronavirus cases have risen steadily until the state hit its current status: an average of more than 12,000 new cases per day, a 134 percent increase within the past two weeks. and nearly 8,000 hospital admissions, according to a New York Times database. Only 44 percent of the state’s residents are fully vaccinated, which is well below the national average of 50 percent.
“In the past few weeks, Texas has been at the forefront of resurgence,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, professor at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the university’s Covid-19 model consortium.
The number of coronavirus-related hospital admissions across the state will rise to well over 15,000 by the end of August, according to the university model.
In response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversing their previous recommendation that the fully vaccinated should not wear a mask indoors in high-risk areas, Mr Abbott doubled in the opposite direction last month. It issued an executive order banning local governments and state agencies from prescribing vaccines and upholding previous decisions to discourage local officials from prescribing masks.
The governor also confirmed schools could not put mask requirements on students, a move some public health experts believe could lead to further spikes in cases.
Updated
Aug 17, 2021, 10:20 a.m. ET
“It is very likely that if students and parents show up on day 1 with coronavirus, this could make it worse,” Ms. Meyers said. “The current state law prohibits schools from requiring face masks, and so our hands are tied at the local level within the schools as to what we can do.”
The issue is both a public health issue and a political issue for Mr Abbott.
Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, said Mr Abbott had to walk a challenging political path during the pandemic. The governor’s initial restrictions on business and other aspects of daily life at the start of the pandemic sparked backlash among grassroots Conservatives, who oppose government interference and also form the core of the Republican primary electorate.
Mr Abbott was able to restore much of that support after lifting restrictions when Covid wore off, Professor Jones said, but would risk re-creating friction with Republican primary voters if he re-imposed the regulations.
“It’s definitely headed for the Republican primary,” he said of the governor’s strategy, noting that Mr Abbott’s goal is to win the 2022 Republican primary by an overwhelming majority against two Conservative challengers – former State Senator Don Huffines and the former leader of the Republican Party, Allen West.
James Riddlesperger, a professor of political science at Texas Christian University at Fort Worth, said Mr. Abbott, who, like Mr. DeSantis, is said to have ambitions of his own as president, sees something similar.
“This is a very risky and rewarding strategy that he and other national Republican leaders are pursuing who simply don’t believe the Covid crisis will cause the number of deaths that many health professionals are suggesting,” he said.
Understand the state of vaccination and masking requirements in the United States
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- Mask rules. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July recommended that all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public places indoors in areas with outbreaks, a reversal of the guidelines offered in May. See where the CDC guidelines would apply and where states have implemented their own mask guidelines. The battle over masks is controversial in some states, with some local leaders defying state bans.
- Vaccination regulations. . . and B.Factories. Private companies are increasingly demanding coronavirus vaccines for employees with different approaches. Such mandates are legally permissible and have been confirmed in legal challenges.
- College and Universities. More than 400 colleges and universities require a vaccination against Covid-19. Almost all of them are in states that voted for President Biden.
- schools. On August 11, California announced that teachers and staff at both public and private schools would have to get vaccinated or have regular tests, the first state in the nation to do so. A survey published in August found that many American parents of school-age children are against mandatory vaccines for students but are more likely to support masking requirements for students, teachers and staff who are not vaccinated.
- Hospitals and medical centers. Many hospitals and large health systems require their employees to have a Covid-19 vaccine, due to rising case numbers due to the Delta variant and persistently low vaccination rates in their communities, even within their workforce.
- new York. On August 3, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that workers and customers would be required to provide proof of vaccination when dining indoors, gyms, performances, and other indoor situations. Municipal hospital staff must also be vaccinated or have weekly tests. Similar rules apply to employees in New York State.
- At the federal level. The Pentagon announced that it would make coronavirus vaccinations compulsory for the country’s 1.3 million active soldiers “by mid-September at the latest. President Biden announced that all civil federal employees would need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo regular tests, social distancing, mask requirements and travel restrictions.
In Austin, local health officials approved recommendations including encouraging fully vaccinated individuals to wear a mask and encouraging partially and fully unvaccinated individuals to get fully vaccinated, stay home, and avoid gatherings unless there is an outing inevitable. However, under Mr Abbott’s ban on mask and vaccine mandates, local officials have no enforcement and can only recommend compliance.
In San Antonio, the virus is also calling for medical facilities. The seven-day average of new cases there is 1,346, with 1,002 Covid patients hospitalized and 273 of them connected to ventilators, according to city data.
“I’d say we’re in a pretty dark place,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “The numbers in our hospitals are approaching the highest we’ve seen in the entire pandemic.”
Mr. Adler and mayors in other democratic metropolitan areas say the anti-mandate policies Mr. Abbott and other Republican leaders are stifling the powers of local authorities to deal with the virus.
“He thought that people have a right not to get vaccinated,” said Adler. “But I don’t think people have a right to endanger the rest of the community.”
Some officials are considering opposing Mr. Abbott’s orders. Nelson Wolff, the judge for the Bexar district, which also includes San Antonio, said he was considering introducing a mask mandate for the district’s 5,000 employees this week.
Mr. Wolff and the district officers are looking for legal formalities that will enable them to implement such a mandate contrary to Mr. Abbott’s policy.
In Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner has already circumvented the governor’s ban on masking requirements by ordering city workers to wear face-covering in city buildings and when they are around other people and cannot socially distance themselves.
The mayor took the measure last week after a two-week spike in the number of city workers, including police and fire departments, with Covid.
“When I saw the exponential increase in the incidence of illness among city employees, there is no way I can just watch and at least order the measures that we know will work,” Turner said on Sunday. “I know what this virus can do.”
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