After two weeks of lifting its mask mandate and allowing businesses to open at full capacity, Texas is not seeing a surge of new COVID-19 cases.
Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued an executive order (pdf) that went into effect on March 10 to loosen COVID-19 restrictions. Although the government’s statewide mask mandate was lifted, individual businesses were still able to “limit capacity” or impose mask mandates at their own choosing.
But in Austin and Travis County, residents 10 years or older still have to wear a mask outside their home after a district judge refused to grant Attorney General Ken Paxton a restraining order that would have ended a mask mandate enforced by Travis County and Austin city officials. The trial is set to take place on March 26.
Texas had been witnessing a downward trend in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations prior to Abbott’s announcement ending the restrictions.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) posted on Twitter yesterday that Texas saw a seven-day average decrease in the daily number of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
#COVID19TX Update: Texans are slowing the spread with vaccines and #HealthyTexas steps. Keep it up to stop variants from reversing our progress.
In the last 7 days #Texas averaged:
⬇️2,556 new cases a day
⬇️3,581 current hospitalizations
⬇️122 new fatalities reported a day pic.twitter.com/QXh4UWtOsY— Texas DSHS (@TexasDSHS) March 24, 2021
At the time the executive order was issued, March 2, new COVID-19 cases in the state stood at 7,240 cases, with a seven-day average of 7,259 cases. That number dropped to 5,350 cases by March 10 when the executive order came into effect and the economy fully opened.- READ MORE
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