After Texas governor rescinded statewide mask mandate, many colleges say they are reviewing the order’s applicability to their campuses. Others say they will keep their mandates on campus.
Many Texas colleges say they are reviewing an executive order issued by Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Tuesday ending a statewide mask mandate and allowing businesses and facilitates to open at full capacity, actions that have been widely condemned by public health officials as premature.
Mississippi governor Tate Reeves, also a Republican, likewise acted on Tuesday to lift county-level mask mandates and allow businesses to operate at full capacity. Officials in Oxford, home to the flagship University of Mississippi, subsequently voted to lift a citywide mask mandate.
Federal public health officials have strongly urged Americans to continue wearing face masks to control the spread of COVID-19 and limit the emergence of potentially more dangerous variants while the country embarks on a massive vaccination campaign. Colleges have widely embraced mask requirements on campuses, but the actions by state and local officials in Texas and Mississippi stand to potentially complicate colleges’ efforts to enforce compliance with public health recommendations.
Some public colleges in Texas indicated they are still trying to understand the implications of the order by Abbott.