Multiple cities and counties join El Paso in adopting mask orders as Texas sets new virus records

AUSTIN, Texas — Multiple Texas counties and cities, including El Paso, are ordering businesses to require customers and workers to wear face masks as the state sees a continued rise in the numbers of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has refused to order a face covering mandate for individuals, said this week that local governments can instead order businesses to require them.

Bexar County (which includes the city of San Antonio) was the first, and local officials in some of the state’s most populous areas, including the City of Austin, Dallas City & County and El Paso City & County, quickly adopted similar measures with fines ranging from $500 to $1,000 for businesses that don’t comply. Dallas County adopted its order Friday morning.

Texas health officials reported new daily records of 3,516 additional cases of the coronavirus and 2,947 hospitalizations, nearly double the total back on Memorial Day.

El Paso accounted for 90 of those new Texas cases and hospitalizations rose from 101 to 106.

The actual number of people who have contracted the virus that causes Covid-19 is likely higher because many people have not been tested and studies suggest that people can be infected and not feel sick.

“The virus is here. Infections are rising. Hospital capacity is filling up. If we want the economy to reopen fully and stay open, we have to take this seriously,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said Friday.

The local orders have been criticized by small business advocates who complain they are turning shop owners and retailers into “mask police.” Some conservative lawmakers blame Abbott for giving his blessing on such measures.

“Texas has now gone full circle from a dictatorship to a republic, to a sovereign American State. Now it appears that as long as we allow the Governor’s actions … we are expected to live as if we have a monarchy,” Republican state Sen. Bob Hall said Friday in a statement.

Abbott’s aggressive push to reopen the economy continued Friday with amusement parks and carnivals around the state allowed to reopen. Six Flags parks in Arlington and San Antonio opened to members and pass holders and will open to everyone on Monday.

Texas is set to unveil guidelines for a return to the school in August for the fall semester. Education Commissioner Mike Morath said this week that state officials have determined it will be safe for public schools to reopen. The state will not require more than 5 million Texas students to wear masks, but districts will have flexibility to set local policies.

The state also will provide some flexibility for families who want to keep their children in distance learning programs from home, Morath said.

Abbott ordered schools closed March 19 and teacher advocates question whether the reopening will adequately address safety. The Texas American Federation of Teachers and the Texas State Teachers Association both attacked moves to reopen as unsafe.

The Texas Workforce Commission announced Friday the state added 291,000 private sector jobs in May, reducing the state’s jobless rate during the pandemic from a record high 14% in April to 13%. Most of the jobs came in the leisure and hospitality industry, the commission said.

Texas and 9 other states set records in new Covid-19 cases

This week, 10 states are seeing their highest seven-day average of new coronavirus cases per day since the pandemic started months ago, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

The states seeing record-high averages are Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas.

While some politicians have attributed higher case numbers to better testing, recent surges are outpacing the increase in tests, said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

“You can have a small percentage increase because of testing in terms of number of cases,” he said.

“But when you see 50% or 150% increase in the number of cases you are seeing — which is what we are seeing across the South — that’s not testing. That’s new cases. That’s community spread.”

Do masks really help?

An estimated 230,000 to 450,000 Covid-19 cases were prevented in the states that enacted requirements for mask use between April 8 and May 15, researchers from the University of Iowa reported this week.

The longer the rules were in place, the higher the reduction in Covid-19 cases. Within a week after implementation, for example, researchers observed a 0.9% decline in new Covid-19 cases. After 21 days, they reported up to a 2% decrease.

Another study published in the Lancet medical journal also said wearing a face mask decreases the chances of spreading coronavirus.

But many people are skipping face masks as states reopen. That’s the opposite of what needs to happen, since many more people are out in public, said Jeremy Howard, a research scientist at the University of San Francisco.

Howard has spent the past four months in Texas and has noticed fewer people wearing masks recently.

“As economies open up more, masks become more important — not less important,” he said.