Name: Gov. Abbott urges Texas police to enforce mask order, as some balk
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Gov. Abbott urges Texas police to enforce mask order, as some balk

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Gov. Greg Abbott called on police across Texas to step up enforcement of his mask order amid the mounting pandemic, explaining Friday that they can either “be part of the problem or part of the solution.”Facing a revolt within his own party, the Republican governor tried again to sell the measure, acknowledging that face coverings can be inconvenient but saying the alternative of locking the state down again is far worse. The state on Friday reported 10,002 COVID-19 hospitalizations, almost twice as many as two weeks ago and seven times the total on Memorial Day.Also Friday, Texas officials asked the federal government to set up an emergency field hospital in the Rio Grande Valley, where coronavirus patients are beginning to overrun the capacities of hospitals and ICUs.“We have a short period of time in the next couple of weeks to bend the curve of this explosion in cases and hospitalizations,” Abbott said in an interview on KSAT in San Antonio. “If we can enforce this, we will be able to keep the state open and reduce hospitalizations.”Public safety officials in several counties, including Montgomery, have refused to enforce the new order, citing personal liberties or logistical concerns. On Wednesday, the Montgomery County Republican Executive Committee voted unanimously to censure Abbott, joining at least three other county executive committees that have taken similar steps.Democrats have separately attacked the governor for reopening the state too quickly and blocking cities and counties from taking precautions early in the pandemic. In April, Abbott stripped local officials of the ability to enforce their own mask orders.Houston and Harris County leaders, who have been pushing for mask order since for months, are frustrated by the governor’s leadership. Mayor Sylvester Turner said he doesn’t want to add mask enforcement to the Houston Police Department’s already heavy load, spokesperson Mary Benton said.“It would help more if all officials were consistent in their public messaging and set a good example about wearing masks,” she said. “They also should listen to local leaders who know their communities and have been fighting tirelessly to get more resources and support during the public health crisis.”More Politics NewsHarris County Judge Lina Hidalgo advocated even stronger action late Friday.“If we want schools to open safely for the long haul, if we want some semblance of normalcy, &amp; if we want a sustainable economy, then we have to buckle down — now. We need a stay home order. The longer we wait, the longer it’ll take to bring down the curve &amp; the more people will die,” she tweeted late Friday.Abbott finds himself in the difficult position of promoting a mask mandate that he has himself long opposed. Abbott rejected previous calls for a statewide mask order but pivoted last week as Texas entered the Fourth of July weekend amid a growing and deadly surge.Since Tuesday, the state has recorded more than 300 COVID-19 fatalities, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis, a huge jump from just a week ago. More than 3,000 Texans have died from the disease since March.The governor’s mask order applies to all counties with 20 or more COVID-19 cases and imposes a fine only for second or any subsequent offenses. The fines are capped at $250 and are left to the discretion of law enforcement. The order also specifies that it carries no possibility of jail time — the no-jail provision has prompted at least one sheriff to declare it unenforceable.In an interview with KLBK in Lubbock, Abbott warned that infections and hospitalizations have yet to slow, meaning more deaths are likely. He said masking in public is “our last best effort” to slow the surge before having to lock the state down again, as it was in April.“This was a tough decision,” Abbott said of the mandate. He added: “The only way it won’t be enough is if the public doesn’t adopt it.”With the state reporting just 940 available intensive care beds, Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz joined members of the Congress from the Rio Grande Valley to ask the federal government to set up an emergency field hospital to deal with the rising number of patients from Brownsville to Laredo.“Unfortunately, with recent surges in COVID-19 cases over the past several weeks, our health systems have been pushed to their limits,” says the letter to Alex Azar, the secretary of Health and Human Services. “Providers in our region have urgently requested additional staffing and a myriad of medical supplies including oxygen, ventilators, personal protective equipment, and dialysis machines as well as additional facilities to enhance critical care and discharge capacity.”The letter was also signed by U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville and Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen.That effort is coming after Abbott earlier this week stopped all elective surgeries in the region and the federal government set up a new free mobile testing site in Edinburg in the heart of Hidalgo County, where deaths have spiked from the coronavirus over the past two weeks. In that time, Hidalgo County has reported 74 more deaths from the virus — the second-highest total of any county in the state. Hidalgo County has a population of 870,000 people.“This is very severe in the Rio Grande Valley, but people must understand this is very severe across the state of Texas,” Abbott said in an interview on in Hidalgo County.Abbott was asked by anchor Kristine Galvan why he didn’t set up emergency pop-up hospitals in the region sooner, as the state did in late March in places such as Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, where there are far more medical facilities than in the Rio Grande Valley. Abbott said he’s been working with hospital officials in the Valley for weeks and they consistently told him they had the capacity then.Now, Abbott said, emergency teams are sending more medical professionals into the region to help with the rising number of patients.He pressed viewers in the Rio Grande Valley to wear masks, telling them it is the “last best chance that we have to avoid a lockdown.”jeremy.blackman@chron.comjeremy.wallace@chron.com

Gov. Greg Abbott called on police across Texas to step up enforcement of his mask order amid the mounting pandemic, explaining Friday that they can either “be part of the problem or part of the solution.”Facing a revolt within his own party, the Republican governor tried again to sell the measure, acknowledging that face coverings can be inconvenient but saying the alternative of locking the state down again is far worse. The state on Friday reported 10,002 COVID-19 hospitalizations, almost twice as many as two weeks ago and seven times the total on Memorial Day.Also Friday, Texas officials...

Gov. Abbott urges Texas police to enforce mask order, as some balk

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