On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order to rescind his state’s mask mandate.
“It is now time to open Texas 100%,” Abbott said at an event on Tuesday. But he warned residents to not abuse their new freedoms: “Removing statewide mandates does not end personal responsibility.”
Why now? The governor points to the progress made on the vaccine front, as well as the development of better therapeutic drugs. More than 44,000 Texans have died from the virus. But in recent weeks, cases and deaths have fallen as nearly 6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccinations have been performed in the state. Among Texans, 7.1% are fully vaccinated while 13.4% have received at least one dose, according to the Wall Street Journal’s tracker.
But if cases rises again, the mask mandate and other restrictions could come back. According to the governor’s statement, if COVID-19 hospitalizations reach over 15% of hospital bed capacity in a given region, then a local judge could revive the mask mandate.
The lifting of the mask mandate won’t come until Wednesday, March 10.
On Tuesday, we also learned that the White House moved up its vaccination timeline. The White House says the nation should have enough supply by May to provide vaccinations for every U.S. adult.
