Mandates have been ordered halted in Dallas and Bexar Counties.

Over the last several weeks, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered a ban on face mask mandates in his state, claiming that the responsibility of preventing the spread of COVID-19 should rest on individuals rather than government mandates. Following this, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins ruled that the order was unconstitutional and hazardous to the public, leading to a mask mandate being reimplemented in Dallas County. This new mandate was backed by a ruling from an appeals court, prompting Abbott to escalate further to the Texas Supreme Court.

Abbott, along with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, argued that the Texas Disaster Act of 1975 gave the governor the authority to dictate the nature and severity of any statewide disaster response measures. The court sided with Abbott, and ordered that the mask mandates be ended, particular in Dallas and Bexar Counties.

However, in spite of this ruling, officials of both counties have made clear that they have no intention of ending the mask mandates. San Antonio City Attorney Andy Segovia said in a statement, “The City of San Antonio and Bexar County’s response to the Texas Supreme Court continues to emphasize that the Governor cannot use his emergency powers to suspend laws that provide local entities the needed flexibility to act in an emergency. His suspension authority is meant to facilitate action, not prohibit it.”

Public schools in San Antonio and Dallas will continue to require face masks on students and teachers, with visitors not permitted on the premises in the case of the Dallas Independent School District.

Currently, Texas is experiencing a major surge of COVID-19 due to the delta variant and the state’s low vaccination rate, with only around half of Texas residents fully vaccinated. According to current statistics, Texas and Florida’s COVID cases are making up roughly 40% of new COVID-related hospitalizations in the United States.