With coronavirus cases soaring, Tarrant County expected to extend mask mandate
Tarrant County Judge Whitley is leaning toward extending the county’s mask mandate on Tuesday for at least another month.
But before Whitley does so, the Commissioners Court must vote to extend the declaration of disaster, which like the mask mandate expires on Nov. 30 and allows the mask order to be in place. Whitley originally put the order in place on June 25.
The declaration of disaster was enacted on March 13, 2020, due to the public health emergency the coronavirus posed.
The order reinforces Gov. Greg Abbott’s July 2 order, which requires people in counties with 20 or more confirmed COVID-19 cases to wear a face mask in buildings and businesses open to the public and outdoors where maintaining six feet of distance from another person isn’t feasible.
Whitley has maintained that requiring face masks is the best way to combat the virus while keeping businesses and hospitals open. The judge said if cases and hospitalizations were on a downward trend maybe the mask mandate wouldn’t be extended.
Tarrant County reported 1,777 new coronavirus cases on Thursday. It’s the second-highest daily total reported after Wednesday’s 2,112 new cases, and about 250 more cases than the next highest daily total of 1,525, set on Nov. 9.
Between Nov. 8 and Nov. 14, the county reported about 8,400 cases, the most cases in a week by almost 3,000. If the county reports at least 1,500 cases on Friday and Saturday, it will beat that record.
In total, the county has reported 87,536 coronavirus cases and 818 deaths. Texas recently surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases. And other than local and state mask orders, there seems to be no other action that will be taken.
Abbott assured this on Thursday at a press conference in Lubbock. He said there would be no more shutdowns.
The mask mandate, which has been around for about five months, was said to have been doing its job when coronavirus cases began trending downward in early September, but after this recent surge, Whitley said people once again need to take personal responsibility and slow the spread.
