Mask mandates across state await fate
Paxton asks Texas Supreme Court to rescind restraining orders halting Abbott’s rules ban
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the state’s high court to stay two temporary restraining orders preventing Gov. Greg Abbott from enforcing an executive order prohibiting mask mandates in the latest escalation between the state and local officials defying the ban as schools start welcoming children and COVID-19 continues raging.
The state argued that the Texas Disaster Act of 1975 makes the governor, not cities or counties, the “commander in chief ” of the state’s response to a disaster such as the pandemic “and empowers him to issue executive orders that have the ‘force and effect of law,’” according to one of the petitions.
The requests challenged mask orders in Dallas and Bexar counties. A response was requested from officials in both counties by 5 p.m. Saturday, a court spokesperson said.
The Supreme Court was expected to issue a ruling later Saturday. The state requested orders granting temporary relief as soon as possible before Monday, noting many students in the San Antonio and Dallas areas are scheduled to return to class then, records show.
“Absent a stay, the State will suffer irreparable harm,” read one of the petitions. “Immediate relief is necessary to prevent this inversion of the Disaster Act.”
Paxton announced Friday night he was raising the matter to the high court hours after appeals courts in Bexar and Dallas counties upheld mandates in San Antonio and Dallas. Earlier Friday, a judge in Travis County granted Harris County a temporary restraining order blocking Abbott’s ban.
“We have taken this mask mandate to the Texas Supreme Court,” the attorney general said in a tweet. “The rule of law will decide.”
Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee on Saturday filed an amicus brief opposing the governor’s mandate prohibition, according to his office.
COVID surge
“This was a very quick turnaround, but we were able to make sure Harris County’s voice was heard before the Texas Supreme Court makes its decision in two similar cases,” Menefee’s office said in a statement. “Their decision has the potential to impact local governments and residents across the state. I hope the court reads the Disaster Act thoroughly, interprets it in good faith, and reins Governor Abbott in.”
Meanwhile, some school districts in the Houston region monitored the litigation, trying to determine whether to follow an order from County Judge Lina Hidalgo mandating masks in schools or the governor’s order banning such requirements as class begins for the year in the middle of a COVID-19 surge.
A mask requirement at Houston ISD, the state’s largest district, will start Monday and class will begin Aug. 23.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Houston region on Friday exceeded their January peak and show few signs of slowing, data from the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council show.
For 29 consecutive days, the number of virus patients occupying hospital beds has increased, the longest such streak of the pandemic. By Saturday, they reached 3,609 in the 25-county region anchored by Houston.
On Jan. 11, during the post-holiday
surge, hospitalizations peaked at 3,432. The pandemic record, set on July 14, 2020, is 3,964. It appears destined to fall, too, as the current wave of COVID-19 hospitalizations is on pace to eclipse 4,000 next week.
The surge is straining hospitals, some of which have canceled elective procedures to make more beds available. As of Thursday, 662 patients were in
emergency rooms waiting for a bed, according to SETRAC. Eighty-seven were waiting to be admitted to an ICU.
Vaccinations lag
That the Houston-area is experiencing its worst wave of COVID-19 now is remarkable, given that vaccines for months have been widely available to adults. While 56 percent of Harris County
residents 12 and older are fully vaccinated, better than the state average, this is far below the 70 or 80 percent threshold experts say is needed to achieve herd immunity.
For the past month, the share of fully vaccinated residents has risen an average of 0.7 percent weekly. At this rate, this figure would not reach 70 percent until the final week of December.
Last week, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo upgraded the county to its highest pandemic threat level, red, which urges all unvaccinated residents to stay home and avoid unnecessary contact with others. The county health department on Friday issued a mandatory mask mandate for schools and daycares.