Biden's Plan To Flood Texas With Taliban Refugees Meets With Enthusiasm From Religious Fanatics

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Two court rulings on Tuesday cleared the way for local leaders who oppose
a ban by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, on mask mandates to at
least temporarily require face coverings to help curb a rise in
coronavirus cases.

The first ruling came in Bexar County, which includes San Antonio. Masks
can now be required in public schools and other public buildings there.

Masks will also be required for county and city employees, said Andy
Segovia, the city attorney for San Antonio. The chief executive of Bexar
County, Judge Nelson W. Wolff, said that the ruling was important because
many students who are too young to be vaccinated would otherwise be coming
back to school with no protection.

The second ruling was delivered by a district judge in Dallas County who
said the ban prevented officials from protecting residents during an
emergency.

“Dallas County citizens will be irreparably harmed” if local leaders
cannot require face coverings to stop the transmission of the virus, the
judge, Tonya Parker, wrote in the ruling.

In light of the decision, Clay Jenkins, the county’s chief elected
official, said he planned to issue an emergency order on Wednesday.
[Update Aug. 12: The order was issued at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.]

Dallas and San Antonio now join Austin, Fort Worth and Houston in
instituting mask mandates in schools. That means the state’s five largest
cities are defying Mr. Abbott’s ban for schools.

On Tuesday, Texas recorded 20,000 new virus cases, nearly double the
number of cases as two weeks ago, according to a New York Times database.

Some hospitals in the state are nearing capacity and are bracing for an
influx of patients. The intensive care unit at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital
in Houston is at full capacity, and 63 percent of those patients are Covid
cases, CNN reported.

While Mr. Abbott remains unmoved as one of the most strident opponents of
mask mandates, he did put some restrictions in place in March 2020, such
as limiting social gatherings to 10 people and closing some businesses,
like gyms. Those that remained open operated at a limited capacity. Last
July, as cases surged across Texas, he enacted a mask mandate.

The state lifted the mandate this past March, citing the presence of
vaccine.

This week the governor appeared to acknowledge the growing burden on the
health care system. He directed the state Health Department to find
additional health care workers from outside Texas to provide
reinforcements for overwhelmed hospitals statewide. He also sent a letter
to the Texas Hospital Association telling hospitals to postpone elective
medical procedures.

President Biden has recently criticized the governors of Texas and
Florida, two states where virus cases have risen particularly sharply, for
their pandemic response.

“I say to these governors, please, if you aren’t going to help, at least
get out of the way for people who are doing the right thing,” he said at a
news conference last week. On Tuesday, he encouraged people to get
vaccinated as part of their preparation for hurricane and wildfire
seasons.

Mr. Biden singled out Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi
as states with low vaccination rates that are also more at risk from
hurricanes.

On Tuesday, a temporary mask mandate for students, staff members and
visitors to public schools in Dallas went into effect.

Brendan Steinhauser, a consultant who lives in a Republican-leaning suburb
of Austin, said the rising number of cases had led more people to wear
masks.

“It is palpable,” he said of his neighbors’ mask-wearing attitude. “I
noticed it and it was like, ‘Whoa.’”

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