Officials in San Antonio and Bexar County can temporarily issue mask mandates, despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) order prohibiting local governments and school districts in the state from requiring masks, Judge Antonia Arteaga ruled on Tuesday.
San Antonio and Bexar County filed a lawsuit on Tuesday morning requesting a temporary restraining order blocking Abbott's action, with officials wanting to make masks mandatory inside public schools and municipal buildings. Arteaga said she did not take her decision lightly, The Texas Tribune reports, citing the school year starting and public guidance from Dr. Junda Woo, health director of San Antonio's Metropolitan Health District, who said masks are necessary in schools as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads in the state.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addictionSpeed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pillSpeed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
-
HMPV is spreading in China but there's no need to worryThe Explainer Respiratory illness is common in winter
-
Marty Makary: the medical contrarian who will lead the FDAIn the Spotlight What Johns Hopkins surgeon and commentator Marty Makary will bring to the FDA
-
California declares bird flu emergencySpeed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study findsSpeed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes riskSpeed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 raceSpeed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
