Abbott ends Texas mask mandate, opens businesses '100 percent'
Gov. Greg Abbott said Texans know how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 without a mask mandate.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagGov. Greg Abbott announced the upcoming end of the statewide mask mandate Tuesday.
He also announced that businesses can open at 100 percent capacity. Both take effect March 10.
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In a speech to the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, Abbott declared that "state mandates are no longer needed" following relatively promising COVID-19 numbers over the last few days.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends that people still wear masks to help slow the spread as vaccines roll out. President Joe Biden also urged Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his presidency.
As of Monday, regional hospitalizations were at 9.35 percent, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis. It also marked the first day that none of the state's 22 hospital regions were above 15 percent.
Statewide, nearly 3.5 million Texans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
"Too many Texans have been sidelined from opportunity," Abbott said. "... This must end. It is now time to open Texas 100 percent."
Houston doctors were taken aback by the decision. One of them described a PTSD-like feeling while watching Abbott's press conference, according Houston Chronicle reporters.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner urged Abbott to not rescind the mandate, according to Juan Lozano of the Associated Press.
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