Schools, businesses divided on masks
Some apprehension as Texas mandate ending
DALLAS— The end of Texas’ mask mandate is giving Lucy Alanis second thoughts about one of her occasional indulgences during the coronavirus pandemic: dining in at restaurants.
“I guess I’m a little scared,” said Alanis, 27, a florist in Dallas.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s repeal of most COVID-19 restrictions — with the Republican saying it was “time to open Texas 100 percent” — reverberated across the state Wednesday.
Businesses in Texas shed rules, city leaders plotted new safeguards, and the state’s 5 million schoolchildren largely remained under orders to keep wearing masks, at least for now. The pushback to Abbott’s decision included one of his own pandemic advisers, who said he was not consulted on the move.
Texas has another week before the mandates end, but what daily life will look like after that remains a mystery after Abbott made the state the largest in the U.S. to no longer require masks.
The mask mandate, which has been in place since July, and occupancy limits on restaurants and retail stores will end Wednesday. Already, some stores announced they still won’t allow maskless customers, and social media users began tracking evolving polices on crowdsourced spreadsheets.
Shopping at Target? Masks are still required. Going to Texas’ largest grocery chain, H-E-B? Face coverings are encouraged but no longer mandated.
Abbott said “personal vigilance” among Texans remained essential but that mandates were no longer needed, emphasizing the increasing availability of vaccines. On Wednesday, Texas health officials announced that teachers and child care workers were now eligible to be vaccinated. In other developments:
■ Buoyed by a surge in vaccine shipments, states and cities are rapidly expanding eligibility for COVID-19 shots to teachers, Americans 50 and older and others as the U.S. races to beat back the virus and reopen businesses and schools. Indiana and Michigan will begin vaccinating those 50 and older, while Arizona and Connecticut have thrown open the line to those who are at least 55. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are reserving the first doses of the new one-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for teachers. And in Detroit, factory workers can get vaccinated starting this week, regardless of age.
■ More than 200 inmates at the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, have declined to get vaccinated against COVID-19, including numerous medically vulnerable prisoners who have been seeking release to home confinement because of concerns about the coronavirus, according to federal officials.
■ The Biden administration will partner with health insurance companies to help vulnerable older people get vaccinated for COVID-19. White House coronavirus special adviser Andy Slavitt announced Wednesday the goal is to get 2 million of the most at-risk seniors vaccinated soon.
■ The Biden administration is warning against virus fatigue and encouraging Americans to continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the nation is “at a critical nexus in the pandemic” and the next two months are “pivotal” in determining the remaining course of the pandemic.