The governors of Texas and Mississippi both announced on Tuesday they would be lifting their states’ mask mandates and rolling back many of their Covid-19 health mandates, just one day after the CDC warned against complacency in the face of emerging coronavirus variants.
Texas is lifting its mask mandate, Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday, making it the largest state to no longer require one of the most effective ways to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“Covid has not suddenly disappeared,” he said, “but state mandates are no longer needed.”
Shortly after Abbott’s announcement, Gov. Tate Reeves announced that he would end Mississippi’s statewide mask mandate, effective Wednesday of this week.
Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
“Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed,” Reeves tweeted. “It is time!”
Federal health officials this week urgently warned states to not let their guard down, warning that the pandemic is far from over.
On Monday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky strongly cautioned against the very rollbacks that Abbott and Reeves were about to implement.
“I am really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from Covid-19,” Walensky said at the daily White House Covid-19 briefing.
“Please hear me clearly,” Walensky said. “At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard earned ground we have gained.”
President Joe Biden echoed those concerns Tuesday, even as he announced the U.S. will have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for every adult by the end of May.
“This fight is far from over,” Biden said. “Though we celebrate the news … I urge all Americans, please keep washing your hands, stay socially distanced, wear masks.”
Abbott said his new executive order would rescind “most” of his prior Covid-19 executive orders, and that all businesses would be allowed to open “100 percent,” effective March 10.
The announcement in Texas, where the virus has killed more than 43,000 people, rattled doctors and big city leaders who said they are now bracing for another deadly resurgence. One hospital executive in Houston said he told his staff they would need more personnel and ventilators.
Abbott, a Republican, has faced sustained criticism from his party in America’s biggest red state over the statewide mask mandate — which was imposed eight months ago — as well as business occupancy limits that Texas will also scuttle next week. The mask order was only ever lightly enforced, even during the worst outbreaks of the pandemic.
“Removing statewide mandates does not end personal responsibility,” said Abbott, speaking from the crowded dining room of a restaurant in Lubbock, surrounded by several people not wearing masks.
“It’s just that now state mandates are no longer needed,” he said.
The full impact of Texas’ reversal was still coming into focus. Target, one of the nation’s biggest retailers, said it would continue requiring customers to wear masks in Texas. Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, said he had no immediate plans to change the limits on fans at the American Airlines Center, where the biggest crowd so far this season was about 3,000 spectators.
Restaurant owners began confronting whether they, too, would relax COVID-19 safeguards in their dining rooms that were already allowed to be almost fully open. School administrators scrambled to figure out the ramifications for the state’s 5 million public school students. Local officials will have some ability to impose new rules if cases spike, Abbott said, but those powers will be limited.
“While we’ve made significant progress, I’d hate to have that go away,” said Tinku Saini, the CEO of Tarka Indian Kitchen, which has locations across Texas. He said he would now allow customers to go maskless but still require face coverings for staff.
At Bob’s Steak & Chop House in Dallas, founder Bob Sambol welcomed the ability to make decisions for his own restaurant again, even though he has not decided what approach he’ll take. “I have a week, thank God,” Sambol said.
Abbott joins a growing number of governors across the U.S. who are easing coronavirus restrictions. Like the rest of the country, Texas has seen the number of cases and deaths plunge. Hospitalizations are at the lowest levels since October, and the seven-day rolling average of positive tests has dropped to about 7,600 cases, down from more than 10,000 in mid-February.
The repeals take effect March 10.
Only California and New York have reported more COVID-19 deaths than Texas.
