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Deanna, left, and Laura McFerrin Hogan

UPDATE 4: In the wake of Judge Tonya Parker’s order issued Tuesday, enjoining Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mask mandates, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins announced this afternoon (Wednesday, Aug. 11) that he is issuing an executive order of his own once again requiring masks be worn in schools, buildings and government offices in Dallas County.

The order, which goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. tonight, comes as new cases of COVID-19, fueled by the Delta variant, and COVID hospitalizations continue to spike.  Texas, along with Florida and Louisiana, continue to be “hot spots” in this latest COVID surge. Information compiled by The New York Times shows that the daily average of cases in Texas stands at 12,426, or 43 cases per every 1,000 residents. That is up 91 percent in the last 14 days.

Texas is second only to Florida in daily average of cases; Florida has a daily average of 20,052 cases, or 93 cases per every 1,000 residents, up 60 percent over the last 14 days. Louisiana has a lower daily average of cases, at 5,571, but has a higher percentage of cases, at 120 per every 1,000 residents. That is up 51 percent over the last 14 days.

Nationally, they daily case average is 118,067, or 36 per every 100,000 people, with an increase of 86 percent over the last 14 days.

Most new cases are showing up in people who have not received a COVID-19 vaccination. Among U.S. residents of all ages, only 50 percent are fully vaccinated; 61 percent of people over the age of 18 and 81 percent of people over the age of 65 are fully vaccinated in the U.S. Texas lags behind the national average, with only 44 percent of its residents having been fully vaccinated as of Aug. 10, according to USAFacts.org.

UPDATE 3: Late Tuesday night, Aug. 10, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a Twitter post that he had received a copy of Judge Tonya Parker’s order enjoining Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order on mask mandates, and that he would “get feedback from health, education and business leaders [Tuesday night] and [Wednesday morning] with the anticipation of issuing an emergency order” today on masks today (Wednesday, Aug. 11).

UPDATE 2: Read the order in its entirety here.

UPDATE: Dallas County District Judge Tonya Parker of the 116th Civil District Court, has ruled that Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mask mandates issued by school districts, governmental bodies or any public or private entity that is receiving or will receive public funds is “not a necessary action to combat” the COVID-19 pandemic and has issued a temporary restraining order keeping Abbott’s executive order from being enforced.

Parker issued her ruling in a countersuit Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins filed against Dallas County Precinct 2 Commissioner J.J. Koch, and against Abbott. A group of Dallas parents, including lesbian couple Laura and Deanna McFerrin Hogan, intervened in Jenkins’ countersuit on Monday, Aug. 9, and had also asked the court for a restraining order. Parker issued the ruling in response to their request.

The Dallas and Austin independent school districts had already defied Abbott by requiring all teachers and students on their campuses to wear masks, and the Houston ISD’s board of trustees is set to meet this week to consider a similar requirement.

Judge Parker wrote in her ruling, issued as COVID infections and hospitalizations are once again spiking, that “The citizens of Dallas County have and will continue to be damaged and injured by Gov. Abbott’s conduct. Judge Jenkins cannot be precluded from implementing the mitigation strategies he believes are sound, reliable and backed by scientific evidence.”

 

ORIGINAL POST: Lesbian couple Laura and Deanna McFerrin Hogan of Dallas are among the group of parents who on Monday, Aug. 9, intervened in Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over Abbott’s executive order banning mask mandates in Texas schools, Laura McFerrin Hogan told Dallas Voice this morning (Tuesday, Aug. 10).

Also on Monday, Jenkins announced he is seeking a restraining order against Abbott’s order banning mask mandates issued by school districts, governmental bodies or any public or private entity that is receiving or will receive public funds, saying the governor does not have the authority to impose it.

Attorney Jenna Royal represents the parents who, she said, intervened “on behalf of students and parents in the Dallas school district.” Royal explained that earlier this month, Dallas County Precinct 2 Commissioner J.J. Koch filed suit against Jenkins after Jenkins had him removed from commissioners court meetings for refusing to wear a mask. Jenkins filed a countersuit against Koch and added Abbott as a defendant. The group of Dallas parents intervened in Jenkins’ countersuit, Royal said.

The lawsuit is part of the growing resistance to Abbott’s executive order, which he issued in May as his way of pandering to the anti-mask extremists he believes make up the GOP base in Texas. The Southern Center for Child Advocacy, a nonprofit education group, filed suit against Abbott and his executive order on Sunday night, Aug. 8, in Travis County.

(Abbott is also being sued by the U.S. federal government for issuing an illegal executive order allowing Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to reroute civilian vehicles back to their origin point or a port of entry, or seize the vehicles, if police suspect the driver is transporting migrants who have COVID-19, according to Texas Tribune. The U.S. Department of Justice says Abbott’s order would add to the spread of COVID-19 and disrupt immigration officials’ network of contractors and non-government organizations that help host recently arrived migrants as their legal cases are pending.)

Officials with both the Dallas and Austin independent school districts have already announced they will be requiring teachers and students to wear masks on their campuses. Houston ISD Superintendent Millard House II has said he wants his district to also require masks, and the Houston school board will be meeting this week to discuss such a requirement.

As the Texas Tribune notes, Abbott issued the executive order when COVID-19 cases were declining and hopes were high that vaccines would finally help bring the pandemic under control. However, as vaccination rates have flagged across the state, infection rates have begun to once again skyrocket as the more infectious coronavirus Delta variant leads a third wave of the pandemic. The Delta variant is also proving to more dangerous to children, with more and more children being hospitalized.

The third wave is happening primarily among those who are unvaccinated, which includes children since they are not eligible to be vaccinated until age 12.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, there have been 2,730,883 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and another 496,648 probable cases. That includes 2,151 new confirmed cases and another 235 new probable cases as of Monday.

There have been 52,471 known fatalities in Texas attributed to the disease, including eight new fatalities reported as of Monday. (“new” means within the previous 24 hours.)

Nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control, as of 1 p.m. Monday, there have been 35,824,258  total cases of COVID-19 reported since Jan. 21, 2020, plus 51,638 new cases. Total deaths in the U.S. stand at 614,856, plus 204 new deaths.

— Tammye Nash