Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday afternoon has issued a nearly-statewide mandatory order requiring persons in any county having reported 20 or more cases of COVID-19 to wear mask covering their mouth and nose when they are inside a business and any other building open to the public and in any outdoor public space where physical distancing is not possible.
The order goes into effect at 12:01 p.m. Friday, July 3. The governor also banned outdor gatherings of more than 10 people without prior approval from local officials. The previous limit was 100 people.
There are some exceptions: children younger than 10 years old, anyone with a medical condition preventing them from wearing a mask, persons who are eating or drinking, and those exercising outdoors.
Abbott’s order, however specifically does not exempt anyone attending a protest or demonstration with more than 10 people who cannot be appropriately physically distanced from each other.
Although first time offenders will receive only a verbal or written warning, subsequent violations can result in a $250 fine per violation. Abbott has specified that no one can be jailed for refusing to wear a mask.
Abbotts issued these new, more stringent regulations the day after 8,076 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Texas, the highest single-day total since the epidemic began.
The changes come three days after Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that the coronavirus is spreading too rapidly and too broadly for the U.S. to bring it under control, and two days after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, warned that the country is “going in the wrong direction” and said he would not be surprised to see the number of new cases reported daily top 100,000 if something isn’t done soon to curb the spread of the virus.
Abbott’s new regulations also come two days after Kentucky Sen. Paul Rand criticized Fauci’s dire warnings, saying the American people “need more optimism” and good news, and just one day after Texas’ own Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — who failed at running a bar and then worked as a conservative radio talk show host before entering politics — said Texas hasn’t made mistakes in re-opening the state and that he doesn’t need to listen to Fauci’s advice on stopping the spread of the virus.
According to the Texas Health and Human Services website, where data was last updated at 3:40 p.m. today (Thursday, July 2), there have been 175,977 cases of COVID-19 reported in Texas to date. That includes 2,525 fatalities and an estimated 82,732 cases that are still active.
Nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control website, there have been 2,679,230 cases and128,024 deaths, with 54,357 new cases and 725 new deaths reported from July 1 to July2. The World Health Organization reports 10,533,779 confirmed cases of COVID, including 512,842 deaths as of 3:05 p.m. CEST (8:05 a.m. CST).
