Texas won’t require masks in schools, even as CDC recommends them

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Citing new evidence that the delta variant of the coronavirus could be spread by rare “breakthrough infections” in vaccinated individuals, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended increased use of masks in public on Tuesday Regions where the variant is spreading quickly and in schools.

The new guidelines are for everyone, regardless of whether they are vaccinated, and signal a repeal by the CDC for the first time since the recommendations were relaxed in May.

In Texas, however, Republican leaders resisted allowing local schools and governments to require masks and adhered to statewide bans on pandemic-era restrictions, even as hospital admissions continue to rise and major cities and counties across the state post health recommendations have tightened.

Governor Greg Abbott “knew the time was over for the state to wear masks,” said Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze in an email to The Texas Tribune. “Now is the time for personal responsibility. Every Texan has the right to choose whether to wear a mask or have his children wear masks. “

On Tuesday, a prominent Texas teacher group urged Abbott to allow districts to impose campus mask mandates, with school scheduled to begin in two weeks, while national education advocates applauded the new CDC guidelines.

“Educators are eager to return to class, but the pandemic is still dangerous,” Ovidia Molina, president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said in a statement Tuesday.

The CDC now recommends that all students, teachers and visitors to schools wear masks and that vaccinated individuals start masking again in “areas of significant and high transmission” in public indoor spaces, officials said Tuesday.

The CDC defines an area of ​​significant transmission as 50-99 new infections per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. An area with a high transmission rate reports 100 or more per 100,000 in this time frame. At the national level, nearly two-thirds of US counties are in either of these two stages of transmission. In Texas, more than 200 out of 254 counties are considered significant or high-rate areas, according to the CDC.

Texas has seen large spikes in hospital admission rates for COVID-19 patients across much of the state since early July – with the fastest increases reported to the Texas Department of State in East Texas, metropolitan areas, and some of the more rural counties between Austin and Dallas Health Services.

The new CDC guidelines are not mandates or have the weight of the law, and Texas is one of the few states that does not allow such rules to be enforced.

Eze said Abbott’s office continues to urge all eligible Texans to receive the vaccine, calling it “the most effective defense against COVID infection and serious illness,” but added that the vaccine “will always remain voluntary and never forced in Texas.” will be”.

The updated guidelines from the CDC do not include a recommendation for vaccine mandates.

About 50% of Texans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and 43% are fully vaccinated. This number fluctuates widely depending on the area, with some metropolitan areas reporting vaccination rates of over 60%, while other, more rural counties are below 35%.

Cases, positivity rates, and hospital admissions are still declining in both Texas and across the country compared to previous increases this winter and last summer. Texas has recorded nearly 9,000 COVID-related deaths since February, and all but 43 were unvaccinated as of last week.

And while daily vaccination rates have increased in Texas in the past few weeks, the pace has slowed dramatically compared to the high demand across the country in the spring – worrying state health officials blaming hospitalization rates on the Delta variant of the virus for the first time up again since winter.

“These aggressive varieties, combined with the millions of Texans who have no protection from the pandemic virus, create the very real potential that the surge we are already seeing could be another rapid surge with devastating consequences for Texans,” Texas said State Health Commissioner That Said Dr. John Hellerstedt in a video statement on Friday.

Hellerstedt begged the Texans to get vaccinated.

“We’re so close, Texas,” he said. “Let’s end the pandemic, let’s end the disease and the loss of life. Let’s show the world that Texans care. Please, Texas. Get your full vaccination, get your second or first dose today. We are in a race against time and can win. “

In May, the CDC recommended that vaccinated people wear masks in mass traffic situations and health facilities with high-risk people nearby, but overall said that those vaccinated against the virus could resume most of their pre-pandemic lifestyle – tall, maskless Meetings and such.

The relaxed guidelines, which came around the same time Texas lawmakers banned corporate vaccine “passports” and ended government and school mandates, were based on a sharp reduction in deaths and hospitalizations and the effectiveness of the vaccine against the variants.

The vaccine is still extremely effective against the virus, scientists say. But in the past few weeks, “an exceptional amount of virus transmission” – along with outbreak studies showing rare cases of transmission by vaccinated people – signals that caution must all be returned to slowing the spread, especially in areas with rapidly increasing rates said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, on Tuesday.

“In contrast to the alpha variant that we had in May, where we did not believe that you could transmit the virus if you were vaccinated, it is different with Delta,” said Walensky. “We see that now with the rare breakthrough infection it is possible to transmit it further, which is why the change is being made.”

In the US, just over 49% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

With so many people still unvaccinated and allowing the delta to spread freely in their populations, “the big worry” is that a new, more dangerous – and perhaps vaccine-resistant – strain may emerge, Walensky said.

The virus is still mainly spread by unvaccinated people, and the vast majority of those who are hospitalized or die from it are unvaccinated, she said.

“I think we are still largely in an unvaccinated pandemic,” she said on Tuesday. “We continue to strongly recommend everyone to get vaccinated. … The highest incidence of cases and serious consequences occurs in places with low vaccination rates and in unvaccinated people. “

Reese Oxner contributed to this report.

Disclosure: The Texas State Teachers Association is a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the journalism of the Tribune. You can find a full list of them here.

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