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Governor Greg Abbott is redoubling efforts to ensure COVID-19 vaccines and wearing masks remain optional in Texas.
The governor passed an executive order on Thursday stating that no government agency can require someone to receive a COVID-19 vaccine that is approved under an emergency permit. (All COVID-19 vaccines approved in the US currently fall under this use category.)
This new order will void all of Abbott’s previous COVID-related Executive Orders and merge some of them into one. The most important things to take away: State and local governments cannot ask for masks or vaccines.
“Today’s executive order will provide clarity and consistency in the Lone Star State’s ongoing battle against COVID-19,” Abbott said in a press release. “The new executive order emphasizes that the way forward is based on personal responsibility and not on government mandates.”
Governments cannot impose COVID-related operating restrictions on businesses – even as hospital admissions increase – or require facial covers. School districts cannot prescribe masks either.
“Today’s executive order will create clarity and consistency in the Lone Star State’s ongoing fight against COVID-19.”
Governor Greg Abbott
Government agencies cannot require individuals to provide evidence of their COVID vaccination status in order to enter the agency or receive services from it. The same applies to public and private bodies that receive public funds (e.g. grants, contracts and loans).
“No consumer may be denied access to a facility that is wholly or partially publicly funded because he does not submit any documentation on the consumer’s vaccination status for a COVID-19 vaccine that is administered as part of an emergency permit,” says it in the disposition.
However, government-sponsored residential centers, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities may still require residents to provide COVID-19 vaccine documentation. Government-supported residential centers and government hospitals may still have mask policies.
The new order repeals all previous executive orders on COVID except GA-13 (relating to prisons) and GA-37 (relating to the transportation of migrants). It ends an order requiring hospitals to postpone elective surgeries if COVID hospital stays in a region get too high. It is also reversing an order that allowed district judges to limit store utilization to 50% if COVID hospital stays in the area hit a certain threshold.
Thursday’s order comes as COVID-19 cases rise in the state, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant and declining vaccination rates. So far, 52.44% of people 12 years old and older in Texas are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Healthcare workers are again overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, the vast majority of whom are unvaccinated.
In Austin, the health department and local officials are begging people to get vaccinated.
Mayor Steve Adler has called for city workers to be vaccinated, which Abbott orders. Adler also urges companies to require their employees to be vaccinated.
“Given the alarming rise in cases, admission to the intensive care unit and positivity rates in the community, we need to do more,” Adler said on Wednesday. “In particular, we must act to better protect our children under the age of 12 who cannot be vaccinated and are at unnecessarily increased risk.”
Abbott takes a very different approach than some states and federal agencies. Officials in New York City and California announced vaccine mandates for officials this week. At the federal level, the Department of Veterans Affairs requires that frontline health workers get vaccinated.
Despite rising cases and hospital stays, Abbott said Thursday he believes Texans “have mastered the safe practices” that are helping stop the spread of COVID-19.
“[Texans] have the individual right and responsibility to decide for themselves and their children whether to wear masks, open their shops and pursue recreational activities, ”he said. “Vaccines that remain in abundance are the most powerful defense against the virus, and they will always be voluntary – never enforced – in the state of Texas.
Do you have a tip? Send an email to Marisa Charpentier at mcharpentier@kut.org. Follow her on Twitter @marisacharp.
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