A Civil District Court Judge in Texas’s Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, granted a TRO yesterday against an executive order issued by Gov. Greg Abbott which prohibited the state’s school districts from implementing a mask mandate, as per CDC guidelines. Abbott will appeal the decision and that motion will be heard on Aug. 16. In the meantime, the ruling allows Bexar County and San Antonio officials to act. The city and county announced that they will “immediately issue an order requiring masks in public schools and requiring quarantine if an unvaccinated student is determined to be in close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual,” according to a news release. “We can get back to managing what is a very dangerous surge of this Delta variant in schools and otherwise,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said.
Governor Abbott, however, would have none of it. He stated that his earlier executive order is totally valid, and that it “emphasizes that the path forward relies on personal responsibility rather than government mandates.” His communications director Renae Eze told Yahoo News that “violating the governor’s executive orders — and violating parental rights — is not the way to do it. Governor Abbott has been clear that the time for mask mandates is over; now is the time for personal responsibility. Parents and guardians have the right to decide whether their child will wear a mask or not, just as with any other decision in their child’s life.” (Sort of like saying traffic lights have been removed, so that individuals can make their own personal decisions about whether or not to stop when there is oncoming traffic.)
Several school districts have said they will openly defy Abbott’s ban on mask mandates and more court challenges are expected.
