Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order forbidding all government entities in the Lone Star state from mandating masks or vaccines.
Abbott, in a series of Tweets posted this past Thursday, said, “They (Texans) have the individual right & responsibility to decide for themselves & their children whether they will wear masks, open their businesses, & engage in leisure activities. Vaccines, which remain in abundant supply, are the most effective defense against the virus, & they will always remain voluntary – never forced – in the State of Texas.”
Those tweets came after he posted the Executive Order detailing personal responsibility rather than government interference as the primary path out of this pandemic.
The order not only places these restrictions on state level government agencies, but also handcuffs the county and city departments as well as all public school districts in the state. But, going beyond the governmental aspect, Abbott also ordered that any business that operates wholly or partly on funds received from the state will also be held accountable for violations of this order.
This restriction will be placed on everything from municipal courts to state-funded public hospitals. They cannot require a mask for entrance of a consumer. They also may not require the vaccination or inquire of a consumer their vaccination status.
The penalty to be assessed is $1,000 per occurrence.
Not everyone is praising the move by the Republican governor.
The Texas State Teachers Association is asking Governor Abbott to rescind the order and allow school districts to determine for themselves if they will require masks on their campuses.
According to El Paso’s KTSM, Association President, Ovidia Molina said, “With COVID-19 cases increasing again and many people still unvaccinated, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that everyone older than 2 wear a mask when they go back to school. Children younger than 12 have not yet been approved for the COVID vaccine.”
While Molina appears to believe that government agencies should be allowed to do whatever they want on the taxpayer’s dime, others applaud Abbott for the order.
We spoke with a disabled veteran in Texas who is unable to wear a mask due to his disability. He said that he has not been able to schedule a visit at the VA clinic near him for over a year because of the mask mandates enacted by the Veteran’s Administration for all of their facilities. He hopes that the federal agencies will follow suit and stop denying Americans the assistance they so badly need.
“They do not understand the level of insanity they are pedaling when they mandate these things at the federal level,” the veteran said. “Luckily, we have a leader at the state level that uses common sense and logic when making decisions in the best interest of Texans.”
