Texas lifts statewide mask mandate, expands business capacity to 100%
HOUSTON - Texas has lifted COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place last year, including business capacity limits and a mask mandate.
Last week, Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order to lift the restrictions effective on March 10.
RELATED: Gov. Abbott ends statewide mask mandate, fully reopens all Texas businesses
"It is now time to open Texas 100%," Governor Abbott said during a press conference last week. "Every business that wants to open should be open."
The executive order allows all businesses and facilities in the state to operate at full capacity. Businesses can still choose to limit capacity or implement safety protocols, like mask requirements, at their own discretion.
Texans have been required to cover their faces in public since this past July.
RELATED: H-E-B will continue requiring masks in stores, will provide masks
Following the governor's announcement, the Texas Education Agency updated their guidance to school districts saying, "a public school system’s current practices on masks may continue unchanged. Local school boards have full authority to determine their local mask policy."
Several school districts have announced that they will be keeping mask requirements in place. The Magnolia Independent School District board announced Monday they will be making masks optional starting on April 1.
RELATED: Magnolia ISD board approves making mask optional starting on April 1
Governor Abbott has said he's optimistic about the increasing availability of vaccines across the state. He also said Texans now know how to protect themselves and have access to antibiotic treatments for the virus.
"Despite these changes remember this, removing state mandates does not end personal responsibility personal vigilance is still needed to contain COVID it’s just that now state mandates are no longer needed," he said.
However, the governor’s announcement was met with mixed reaction.
RELATED: Reaction mixed following Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement to 'reopen Texas'
Some, like Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Representative Pete Sessions, expressed support of the restrictions being lifted and said it is a positive step for the economy.
In a letter to the governor, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner urged him to keep the mask requirement in place.
"We must continue the proven public health interventions most responsible for our positive case trends and not allow over-confidence to endanger our successes," the letter read.
President Joe Biden called Texas and other states’ decisions to end mask mandates and loosen other COVID-19 restrictions despite warnings from health officials "a big mistake."
"I hope everyone has realized by now these masks make a difference," President Biden said from the Oval Office. "We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we have been able to get vaccines in people's arms."