TX, Mississippi drop mask mandates, business restrictions

(Compiled from UPI and Reuters) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that they will lift mask mandates and allow businesses to open at full capacity in their respective states.

Reeves wrote on Twitter that the changes in Mississippi will take effect Wednesday, while Abbott issued a statement declaring that Texas will lift many of its pandemic-related executive orders on March 10.

During a news conference Tuesday, Reeves said restrictions including mask mandates will remain in effect in K-12 schools.

“I believe that the most consequential debate playing out in America today is whether children should be in the classroom learning,” he said. “My view is simple, all of Mississippi’s children should be in the classroom.”

Indoor arenas will also be required to operate at 50% capacity.

He added that businesses are “well within their right” to impose their own restrictions and that he would replace the executive orders with “recommendations.”

“Executive orders that interfered with peoples’ lives were the worst, but the only possible, intervention for much of the last year,” he said. “Now we are putting our focus toward rapid vaccine distribution. We are getting out of the business of telling people what they can and cannot do.”

In Texas, Abbott signed an executive order that will rescind most of his earlier executive orders related to COVID-19 as well as the mask mandate and allowing all businesses “of any type” to open at 100% capacity.

“We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100%,” Abbott said. “Make no mistake, COVID-19 has not disappeared, but it is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations and safe practices that Texans are using that state mandates are no longer needed.”

The governor said he was able to lift the restrictions because Texas, the third second most-populous U.S. state, had administered nearly 5.7 million vaccine shots to its 29 million residents.  [Health experts expect 7 million vaccines to have been distributed in the state by next Wednesday].

Abbot said that county judges will be able to implement COVID-19 strategies if hospitalizations in any region rise above 15% of the hospital bed capacity for seven consecutive days. However, judges will not be permitted to impose jail time for failing to follow COVID-19 orders or for failing to wear a face mask.

Both governors cited declining rates of new cases and hospitalizations, and rapid distribution of vaccines as reasons their states are able to lift the restrictions.

According to Abbott’s office, by the end of March every senior who wants a vaccine would be able to get one.

The decision puts Texas in conflict with President Joe Biden, a Democrat who has urged Americans to keep taking COVID-19 precautions, including wearing masks, until vaccinations have fully tamped down the virus.

In remarks at the White House on efforts to step up vaccine production, Biden did not mention Texas. But the president appeared to be referring to Abbott’s executive order when he urged Americans to continue wearing face protection.

“Now is not the time to let up,” he said. “I’ve asked the country to wear masks for my first 100 days in office. Now is not the time to let our guard down. People’s lives are at stake.”

Referring to Abbott’s order on masks, White House COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt told CNN:

“I hope the governor rethinks this. It’s only a small piece of cloth that’s needed. I don’t think it affects the economy of the state.”

As of Tuesday, 35 U.S. states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, still mandate that residents wear face masks in public. Mississippi also lifted its face-covering order on Tuesday.

More than 51 million Americans, or 15% of the total U.S. population, have been given at least one vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

COVID-19 infections have plummeted in recent weeks across much of the world, including the United States.

According to a Reuters tally, roughly 68,240 new cases have been reported on average each day this week, or 27% of the peak daily average reached on Jan. 7. The United States (with a population of 329 million), has recorded 28,681,793 covid infections and 513,721 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began.

Compiled from articles by Daniel Uria at UPI and by Dan Whitcomb at Reuters. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.