Signs about COVID-19 were posted last year at the entrance to Ott Elementary School in San Antonio. Credit: Allie Goulding/The Texas Tribune
Aug. 17, 2021 at 9:07 p.m.
As Texas school officials figure out how to mandate masks in public schools without running afoul of Gov. Greg Abbott, one school district has taken a novel approach: make mask-wearing a part of the dress code.
Students, teachers, and other school employees at Paris Independent School District — a school district in Northeast Texas with about 3,900 students — must don masks after the district’s board of trustees voted Tuesday to require masks under the district’s dress code, The Paris News reported.
“The Texas Governor does not have the authority to usurp the Board of Trustees’ exclusive power and duty to govern and oversee the management of the public schools of the district,” the board said in a statement posted on the district’s website.
In recent weeks, several Texas school districts along with cities and counties have mandated mask-wearing in schools in defiance of Abbott’s ban on local mask orders — citing their authority to respond to emergency situations like the COVID-19 pandemic.
School officials in parts of the state have grown desperate for ways to protect children too young to get vaccinated against the rapid spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
Paris ISD appears to be the first to use the district’s authority to set proper attire for students and employees to require masks. — Joshua Fechter
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Aug. 17, 2021 at 8:11 p.m.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates could soon be taken up in federal court.
Disability Rights Texas filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Abbott and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath over Abbott’s executive order preventing school districts from enacting their own mask-wearing requirements.
Abbott’s order, the group alleges in the suit, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and federal protections for students with disabilities by preventing “students with disabilities from safely returning to school for in-person instruction without serious risk to their health and safety.”
Parents of “medically vulnerable students” will have to “decide whether to keep their children at home or risk placing them in an environment that presents a serious risk to their health and safety” if schools can’t implement mask-wearing, the lawsuit says.
“As a result, Governor Abbott and TEA have erected an unlawful barrier, which will impact many students with disabilities and prevent local school districts and communities from providing a safe learning environment for their most vulnerable students,” the lawsuit reads.
The disability rights group — who sued Abbott and Morath in the Western District of Texas on behalf of 14 school children who have disabilities or chronic diseases — wants a federal judge to block, at least temporarily, Abbott’s prohibition on mask mandates so school officials can require students, teachers, staff and visitors to don masks.
Representatives for Abbott and Morath did not immediately return requests for comment.
Tuesday’s lawsuit marks a new front in the growing revolt against Abbott’s order.
To date, legal challenges to Abbott’s ban on local mask mandates have focused on whether cities, counties and school districts have the legal authority to require masks — no matter what Abbott says. — Joshua Fechter
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More Texas hospitals are reporting a shortage of intensive care beds than at any other time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state 18 months ago — just one sign among many that the health crisis is on track to reach its most dangerous phase yet, health officials say.
The latest surge of the virus has also caused new cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations to rise with record speed to just below their January peaks, as the highly contagious delta variant rips through the unvaccinated community at a rate up to eight times faster than earlier strains, officials said.
The percentage of hospital beds being used by COVID-19 patients in each trauma service region shows how the virus is currently impacting hospitals in different parts of the state.
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Between 93% and 98% of hospitalized COVID patients, depending on the area, are unvaccinated, officials said. With just under half of Texans fully vaccinated, the state still has some 16 million people who have yet to be protected from the virus.
New COVID-19 cases have reached a seven-day average of more than 14,000, still below the January peak of more than 19,000. But the number that worries health officials most is hospitalizations from COVID-19, which hit 12,227 on Monday — an increase of 2,186 since last week.
If the trend continues, the state could surpass the single-day record of 14,218, set on Jan. 11, before the end of the month. — Karen Brooks Harper and Carla Astudillo
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Aug. 17, 2021 at 4:52 p.m.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants the state’s highest civil court to disallow mask mandates in Texas school districts.
Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday to overrule a Travis County judge who over the weekend allowed mask mandates to proceed in any school district in the state.
State District Judge Jan Soifer issued temporary restraining orders against Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates, clearing the way for Harris County and eight school districts to enact their own mask-wearing rules. Soifer also barred Abbott from enforcing his order “against Texas independent school districts.” Abbott, who is vaccinated, tested positive for the coronavirus Tuesday but is not experiencing any symptoms.
In the past two weeks, Abbott and Paxton have sought to stem the tide of cities, counties, and school districts challenging the governor’s pandemic executive order and putting their own mask mandates in place.
“The ongoing disregard of the law by certain local officials is causing mass confusion in Texas, necessitating intervention by this Court to provide clarity and statewide uniformity,” Paxton’s office wrote to Supreme Court justices Tuesday.
Abbott and Paxton have had some legal victories — albeit short-lived ones. The high court sided with Abbott and Paxton on Sunday and temporarily shut down mask mandates in Bexar and Dallas counties. But the court allowed legal challenges to continue playing out.
The next day, a lower court judge reinstated the Bexar mandate, which applies to K-12 public schools. — Joshua Fechter
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Aug. 17, 2021 at 4:01 p.m.
Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive Tuesday for COVID-19. Abbott, who is fully vaccinated, is not experiencing any symptoms and is isolating at the Governor’s Mansion, spokesperson Mark Miner said in a statement. He is getting Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment.
“The Governor has been testing daily, and today was the first positive test result,” Miner said. “Governor Abbott is in constant communication with his staff, agency heads, and government officials to ensure that state government continues to operate smoothly and efficiently.”
Miner added that “everyone that the Governor has been in close contact with today” has been informed of his positive test. The first lady, Cecilia Abbott, tested negative. — Patrick Svitek
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Aug. 17, 2021 at 1:13 p.m.
In a bid to jumpstart stalled vaccinations in Texas’ most populous county and provide relief to the region’s stressed hospitals, Harris County officials will offer $100 gift cards to residents who get their first COVID-19 shot.
“We’re making it as easy as possible,” County Judge Lina Hidalgo said at a Tuesday news conference. “There’s really no excuse.”
Across the state, local officials have grown desperate for ways to convince more people to get vaccinated as the highly contagious delta variant puts more people in hospital beds and hospitals scramble to find enough workers to care for a surge of COVID-19 patients.
The overwhelming majority of those hospitalized, hospital officials and health experts have said, are unvaccinated. Less than half of Harris County residents are fully vaccinated.
County officials have set aside $2.3 million for the county’s vaccine incentive program — enough to put first doses in about 23,000 arms.
President Joe Biden has encouraged cities and counties to dip into federal stimulus dollars to pay for $100 in incentives. In Texas, Austin will soon have a vaccine incentive program, and San Antonio is weighing a program of its own. — Joshua Fechter
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Aug. 16, 2021 at 5:41 p.m.
The San Antonio Independent School District will require all staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, its superintendent, Pedro Martinez, said in a letter to staff Monday. It is believed to be the first large Texas school district to implement a vaccine requirement for its employees.
The move comes as Gov. Greg Abbott and state officials continue fighting legal battles over the options local governments have to mitigate the pandemic.
About 90% of San Antonio ISD employees are vaccinated, Martinez said in his letter to staff. Employees who have not yet received vaccine shots are required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15.
As part of his reasoning, Martinez cited the community’s high positivity rate — the share of people getting tested who are confirmed to have infections.
“We strongly believe that the best path forward as a school district is to require all staff to become vaccinated against COVID-19. And the timing is now,” Martinez said. “This is a profound moment where we can choose to lead by example.”
The announcement came the same day a Bexar County judge ruled that local officials can proceed with requiring masks in schools. That new temporary injunction is part of an ongoing legal challenge to Abbott’s statewide ban on mask mandates that the Texas Supreme Court allowed to continue Sunday when it overruled previous moves by lower courts that had also cleared the way for local mandates.
Martinez announced in a separate letter to San Antonio ISD parents Monday that the district would be issuing a mask mandate, “effective immediately.”
Abbott’s latest pandemic executive order bans government entities from requiring anyone to get — or prove they have received — a vaccine that has been cleared for emergency use.
In his letter to staff, Martinez noted that the Food and Drug Administration may soon grant full approval for the COVID-19 vaccines, instead of just emergency approval.
The Texas Education Agency released guidance earlier this month that does not mention vaccination requirements for district staff, but it does say that schools can test staff for the virus. — Allyson Waller
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Aug. 16, 2021 at 6:46 p.m.
A small school district in West Texas has apparently become the first in the state this school year to temporarily shut its doors due to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in the community.
An official of the Iraan-Sheffield Independent School District, with fewer than 400 students, announced Monday that it will close as of Tuesday and aims to reopen Aug. 30.
“This decision was made to ensure the safety of our students and staff as well as to make certain that we have appropriate staff available for each campus,” Superintendent Tracy Canter said in the statement.
Two small East Texas school districts — Bloomburg and Waskom — also planned to cancel classes at some schools this week due to the coronavirus, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Iraan-Sheffield officials announced in June that they would discontinue virtual learning and wanted kids back in the classroom. In Monday’s announcement, Canter said the district will work with the Texas Education Agency to determine if the district can provide “home support” or return to campus before Aug. 30.
The TEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The district’s back-to-school plan said masks were not required but were strongly encouraged.
Over the last week, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Pecos County, where Iraan is located, have risen from 9.5% to about 14.5% of hospital capacity, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Danny Updike, executive director of the advisory council for the trauma service area that includes Pecos County, said hospitalizations are worse than they were a year ago. Most patients being admitted are unvaccinated, and Iraan has a low vaccination rate, he said.
In some instances, Updike said, patients are being flown to New Mexico or Oklahoma because there aren’t enough beds in the region.
“People need to get vaccinated,” he said. “They think the government’s telling them to do it, and they need to not take that attitude.” — Brian Lopez
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Aug. 16, 2021 at 8:32 p.m.
El Paso Public Health Authority Hector Ocaranza said Monday that he would implement a mask mandate for indoor establishments, including schools, El Paso Matters reports.
Ocaranza said the mandate would likely go into effect Wednesday at the earliest, and a notice will be issued to the public.
During an emergency City Council meeting, council members approved a motion that the city attorney challenge Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order that bans local governments from imposing mask requirements.
“We hope to get in front of a judge early tomorrow morning,” city attorney Karla Nieman said.
Councilmember Cassandra Hernandez said during the meeting that Ocaranza has the authority to protect the El Paso community despite Abbott’s fight against local restrictions.
“Gov. Abbott has exceeded his authority,” she said. “… We also must remember that the common enemy here is to eradicate COVID-19. It’s not the partisan politics.” — Allyson Waller
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Aug. 16, 2021 at 5:01 p.m.
After the state’s highest civil court nullified a mask mandate in San Antonio this weekend, a Bexar County judge ruled Monday that local officials can proceed with requiring face coverings in public schools.
“My thoughts continue to be with those children in our schools that don’t have access to the vaccine, but must attend school, coupled with the dire situation right here in Bexar County hospitals, and where we currently find ourselves,” State District Judge Antonia Arteaga said in making her ruling.
The new temporary injunction is part of an ongoing legal challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott’s statewide ban on mask mandates that the Texas Supreme Court allowed to continue Sunday when it overruled previous moves by lower courts that had also cleared the way for local mandates.
Officials in San Antonio and Bexar County successfully sued Abbott last week for the right to enact their own mask mandate. Upon winning, they quickly put one in place for public schools — a requirement soon replicated by three of the state’s other largest counties. — Joshua Fechter
This story was originally published by the Texas Tribune.
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