Anonymous ID: 1465a2 Sept. 3, 2023, 7:48 a.m. No.19482436   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>2476 >>2553

Texas bans mask mandates as COVID restrictions imposed in other states

Sep 01, 2023

 

A ban on COVID-19 restrictions that impose a mandate to wear face masks in public spaces went into effect in Texas after a number of institutions across the U.S. reinstated the policy due to a rise in new infections fueled by the emergence of two new variants of the virus.

 

Senate Bill 29, which was passed by the state's Legislature in May and signed by Governor Greg Abbott at the start of June, went into effect on Friday. It prohibits most government institutions from enforcing mask-wearing policies but places no restrictions on private entities.

 

Some private institutions, hospital operators and colleges have reintroduced the requirements for staff or visitors to wear masks while at their sites to limit the spread of the new variants—EG.5 and BA.2.86—prompting speculation that fresh COVID restrictions may be on the horizon.

 

Last Friday, Abbott emphatically denied a return of the COVID-era policy—one of several measures thought to limit the spread of the virus—in his state, tweeting: "There will be NO mask mandates in Texas."

 

SB 29, which was sponsored mostly by Republicans and one Democratic state senator, stipulates that "a governmental entity may not implement, order, or otherwise impose a mandate requiring a person to wear a face mask or other face covering to prevent the spread of COVID-19."

 

https://www.newsweek.com/texas-bans-mask-mandates-covid-restrictions-1824040#:~:text=In%20March%202021%2C%20Abbott%20lifted,state's%20Supreme%20Court%20in%20June