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HOUSTON (AP) – Despite Governor Greg Abbott’s ban on masking mandates, Wednesday as more school districts and communities in Texas announced plans to require students to wear face-coverings and another county won a legal victory in its efforts, to issue such mandates amid a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations across the state.
What you need to know
- Spring ISD students must wear masks from Monday.
- The Spring School District joins those in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, requiring students and staff to wear masks
- Fort Bend County officials announced they have filed a lawsuit to lift Abbott’s ban on mask mandates
In the Houston suburb of Spring, the school district’s 33,000 students, as well as teachers, staff and visitors, will have to wear masks from Monday.
Spring School District is joining forces in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Fort Worth by requiring students and staff to wear masks on campus and in other county buildings. The mandates violate an executive order repeated by Abbott last month to outlaw mask mandates by any state, county or local government agency.
“I don’t want to focus so much on standing up to the governor. We make sure our children are safe. We make sure our teachers are safe and we make sure that every student’s learning needs are met, ”Rodney Watson, superintendent of the Spring School District, told reporters on Wednesday.
Late Wednesday, officials in Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston, announced that they had filed a lawsuit to lift Abbott’s ban on masking mandates and also reinstated an order prohibiting the wearing of masks in all public school buildings and facilities in the county prescribes. A judge issued the county an injunction against Abbott’s ban on mask mandates later on Wednesday.
Renae Eze, an Abbott spokeswoman, said in a statement that violating the governor’s orders “and violating parental rights – is not the way to go.”
The Texas mask mandate dispute comes as COVID-19 hospital admissions continued to rise, rising to 10,463 on Wednesday, the most since Feb. 3. In the past two weeks, hospital admissions have increased by 85%. State health officials reported 112 deaths Wednesday, the first time since March 10 that the total exceeded 100. Hospitals across the state are overcrowded with COVID-19 patients and many do not have enough nurses and other staff to adequately staff the intensive care unit or intensive care unit beds.
“If this continues and I have no reason to believe that it won’t, there is no way my hospital will be able to handle it. The region cannot handle that. I don’t want to be an alarmist … but I’m scared of what’s to come, ”Esmaeil Porsa, president and CEO of Harris Health System, which operates the Houston area’s public hospitals, told lawmakers Tuesday during a Texas health care meeting – and Social Committee of the Senate.
Abbott announced Wednesday that the state has arranged for more than 2,500 medical workers to be deployed to help hospitals care for the rising number of COVID-19 patients across Texas.
Outside the Houston school district headquarters Wednesday, a group of teachers’ unions, along with parents and students, urged the districts to defy Abbott’s orders and to issue their own mask mandates.
“A mask mandate is not a risk for anyone. The lack of masks puts children and their families at risk, ”said Aly Fitzpatrick, whose twin sons will begin second grade in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, northwest Houston.
The principal of Houston’s school district, the largest in the state, planned to ask his school board for approval of a mask mandate during a meeting on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins signed an executive order mandating the wearing of masks in schools, county buildings, and businesses. That was enacted after a state district judge on Tuesday issued an injunction against Abbott’s order that allowed Jenkins to grant the masking mandate
The Dallas County court ruling follows a ruling earlier Tuesday when another judge issued another restraining order that allowed officials in San Antonio and Bexar Counties to require masks in public schools.
Late on Wednesday afternoon, Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that the state had filed a petition with the 5th Court of Appeals to revoke Dallas County’s mask mandate.
“The way forward is based on personal responsibility – not government mandates. The state of Texas will continue to vigorously fight the injunction to protect the rights and freedoms of all Texans, “Abbott said.
The Paxton office on Wednesday issued a statement suggesting the federal government may not have the power to issue its order requiring masks to be worn on all public transport.
Earlier Wednesday, Houston Texas Children’s Hospital became the newest hospital system in the country to require its staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In April, the Houston Methodist became the first major US healthcare system to require vaccinations for its employees. A group of employees sued the Houston Methodist over the vaccination mandate, but a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit.
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