Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will lift the state’s mask mandate and announced businesses would be allowed to reopen at full capacity in one week’s time.
“It is now time to open Texas 100 percent,” Abbott said Tuesday afternoon at Montelongo’s Mexican Restaurant in Lubbock.
“Covid has not suddenly disappeared,” Abbott said, “but state mandates are no longer needed.”
Today’s announcement doesn’t abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year. Instead, it’s a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety & the safety of others.
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott)
Abbott said his new executive order would rescind “most” of his prior Covid-19 executive orders, and that all businesses would be allowed to open “100 percent,” effective Wednesday, March 10.
The end of the mask mandate makes Texas, population 29 million, the largest state to end a rule aimed to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
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