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As local health officials plea for residents to mask up, Gov. Abbott says he won't reinstate mask mandate

(Office of the Governor)
Gov. Greg Abbott says he will not impose another mask mandate, despite a rising number of COVID-19 cases across the state and Austin health officials asking all residents to wear masks.
Abbott told KPRC-TV in Houston on Tuesday that reasons not to reinstate a mask mandate are "very clear" and it would be "inappropriate to require people who already have immunity to wear a mask."
Earlier this week, COVID cases and hospitalizations in the five-county Austin metro reached the Stage 4 threshold of Austin Public Health's risk-based guidelines for the first time since February. Local officials are asking residents, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask while indoors as if in Stage 4, although an official shift has not been announced.
But even so, local officials can only recommend masking since Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting mask mandates in May. Texas was one of the first states to lift the mask mandate, which had been in effect from early summer 2020 through March.
During the press conference, Abbott shut down thoughts of future restrictions, saying he believes Texas has advanced "past the time of government mandates," and we are now in "the time for personal responsibility."
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention still says it is safe for vaccinated individuals to go mask-free in most indoor settings, likewise with Austin's Stage 3 guidelines, though the World Health Organization is still recommending that people wear masks.
Only 44% of Texans are vaccinated, which is among the bottom 30% nationwide, compared to more than 60% in Austin. Earlier this week, Texas' positivity rate went above 10% for the first time since February, with Austin on track at 9.6%, a ceiling that Abbott had previously called a "warning flag."
So far four cases of the Delta variant have been confirmed in Travis County, and the seven-day moving average has gone from 8 to 32 cases since the beginning of July. Austin is edging into Stage 4 territory with 163 new cases and 41 new hospital admissions today alone.
More than 99% of hospital admissions in Texas are among unvaccinated individuals.
Although a masking mandate remains off the table, some local businesses are choosing to take matters into their own hands. Waterloo Records is asking that customers resume masking while shopping in-store, and the Hideout Theatre is requiring that patrons wear masks during shows.
Abbott also doubled down on keeping the mask mandate out of schools when students return in the fall, saying "they can by parental choice."
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(Paxton Smith/Instagram)
Paxton Smith’s 2021 valedictory speech at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas wasn’t the same speech she had previously shared with school administrators. She dropped the approved speech and made a case for women’s reproductive rights after lawmakers passed the Texas "Heartbeat Bill.”
Her advocacy made news on NPR, YouTubeTV and in The Guardian. Just over a year later, the “war on (women’s) rights” she forewarned has come to a head as the U.S. Supreme Court voted Friday morning to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection for abortion access.
“It is up to the people to show up and show the courts and the politicians that we won’t sit back and let this happen,” Smith told Austonia Friday morning. “We will show up, we will fight back. Before, we were scared of them, now they should be scared of us.”
Now a University of Texas sophomore and abortion rights activist, 19-year-old Smith said she wanted to give the same speech in the “the most public way possible” to reach “as many people as possible who don't agree that I deserve this right.”
However, she says the response was “actually overwhelmingly positive” and supportive of her cause. According to a recent UT poll, 78% of Texas voters support abortion access in most cases.
The speech opened up further opportunities for activism: she advocated for reproductive rights at the International Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, interviewed with Variety magazine and spoke to tens of thousands at Austin’s Bans Off Our Bodies protest at the Texas Capitol in May.
Smith also serves on the board of directors for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a national nonprofit organization that helps fund abortions or medication abortion—like Plan C pills—in all 50 states. Most recently, Smith has been attending protests in Washington, D.C. leading up to the ruling.
“This is land of the free. This is where you get to choose how you live your life,” Smith said. “Overturning Roe v. Wade violates everything that we have come to believe about what it means to live in this country. I think a lot of people aren't willing to accept that this is a human right that is most likely just going to be gone for over half of the country within the next couple of weeks.”
Bracing for the next steps, Smith gave some tips for supporters:
- Find a protest to attend.
- “I would say invite somebody to go to those protests with you, invite a couple of friends, invite people into the movement,” Smith said.
- Talk about the issue on social media—use the platform you have.
- “Have these kinds of conversations where people can just talk about their fears and then find ways to go and advocate for yourself,” Smith said.
- Volunteer at a nonprofit near you.
“I feel like a lot of the reason things have gotten as bad as they have within the abortion rights world is that people are not making a scene, not protesting, not putting the effort into ensuring that the government doesn't take away this right,” Smith said. “I want to emphasize that if you're not doing anything, don't expect the best scenario, expect the worst because that's the direction that we're going in.”
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(Council Member Chito Vela/Twitter)
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, Friday morning. Moments later, Austin City Council set a special meeting for next month to pass a resolution aimed at decriminalizing abortion.
The GRACE Act, which stands for guarding the right to abortion care for everyone, is a twofold plan submitted by council member Jose “Chito” Vela. It recommends that city funds shouldn’t be used to surveil, catalog, report or investigate abortions. It also recommends that police make investigating abortion their lowest priority.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who co-sponsored the resolution along with council members Paige Ellis, Kathie Tovo and Mayor Steve Adler, said the importance of the GRACE Act cannot be overstated.
“By introducing this resolution during a special session, City Council is doubling down on fighting back for reproductive health,” Fuentes said. “Items like the GRACE Act will promote essential healthcare while enabling individuals to exercise their bodily freedom.”
The act takes an approach similar to when former council member Greg Casar moved to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ultimately, state law doesn't allow city officials to order police chiefs to adopt specific enforcement policies so the resolution would be a request to Police Chief Joe Chacon. In May, Politico reported that Vela is having "ongoing conversations" with Chacon about the proposal.
Austonia contacted Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment on the GRACE Act but did not hear back by time of publication. On Friday, Paxton celebrated the overturning of Roe and announced an annual office holiday on June 24 in recognition of the high court's decision.
In a press release, Vela said the Texas state government has a history of overturning municipal protections of human rights. Thirty days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Texas will ban all abortions, with exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
Still, Vela expressed hope for the GRACE Act’s longevity. Council’s special meeting on it is set for the week of July 18.
“We know this resolution is legally sound, and Austin is not alone in this fight,” Vela said. “We are working with several other cities who are equally horrified by the prospect of an abortion ban and want to do everything they can to protect their residents.”
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