(CN) — As coronavirus hospitalizations surge in Texas, local officials are defying the governor’s orders barring mask mandates for public employees.
With just over 50% of eligible Texans fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the number of residents hospitalized with the respiratory illness has risen to more than 6,800, levels not seen since February, according to the Department of State Health Services.
Health officials are sounding the alarm that the highly contagious delta variant is to blame for what they have dubbed a fourth wave of Covid in the nation’s second-most populous state.
While the Democratic governors of New York and California are pushing for, or will soon be requiring, all state employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly Covid tests, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, is moving in the opposite direction.
On July 29, he issued an executive order barring government entities from forcing employees to get Covid vaccines and reiterated a previous order that no jurisdiction can force anyone to wear masks, with exceptions for government-run hospitals, county jails and state prisons.
He also barred public school districts from forcing students to don masks.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who criticized Abbott in March for removing all coronavirus capacity restrictions on businesses and repealing a statewide mask mandate when less than 10% of Texans had been fully vaccinated, is defying Abbott’s latest orders.
Starting Wednesday, the Democratic mayor said all city employees without medical conditions that prevent compliance must wear masks on city property if they cannot maintain social distancing.
Abbott’s staff did not immediately respond Tuesday when asked if he will challenge Turner’s mandate in court.
But Turner’s spokeswoman told local media the city attorney believes Turner’s decree would hold up in court.
“Legal believes the city is within its right to ask city employees to wear face coverings to help stop the virus spreading within the workforce,” Mary Benton said.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee has accused Abbott, who is up for reelection next year and has received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, of playing pandemic politics to appease his conservative base at the expense of public health.
The attorney for the county that includes Houston, Menefee is urging state legislators to “take a hard look” at the Texas Disaster Act, the law through which Abbott is issuing executive orders for Covid-19 after declaring the pandemic a disaster in spring 2020.
“The Governor’s power is not absolute, and the Disaster Act doesn’t empower him to turn local government workplaces into COVID hotspots. Local officials are entitled to take action to keep their employees safe during the pandemic,” Menefee wrote Monday on Twitter.
With public schools across the state set to start classes in less than two weeks, many Texas parents are fearful their children will be infected with the virus due to Abbott barring school districts from requiring masks.
Dr. Charles Luke, co-director of Pastors for Texas Children, a Fort Worth-based ministry that runs church programs in support of schoolchildren, said he disagrees with Abbott’s one-size-fits-all order.
"Health decisions are best made by local health authorities closest to home who understand what is happening in their community. I don't think the blanket decision barring the requirement of masks is in the best interest of all communities in the state," Luke said in an email.
The delta variant has proven not only much more contagious than earlier iterations of Covid-19 but also more dangerous for children.
Dr. James Versalovic, interim pediatrician-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital, said the delta variant is causing a higher fever and more congestion in children than earlier strains, which concerns him because the federal government has yet to approve vaccines for children under 12.