By Sahar Chmais
People going to school will be required to wear masks after Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra issued an Executive Order Friday evening, Aug. 13.
Becerra’s decision came after monitoring the spike in hospital admissions, how highly contagious the Delta variant has been and that children under the age of 12 do not have access to the vaccine.
Public schools and public charter schools in Hays County will be required to enforce masks for students, staff and visitors over the age of two when on campus and on school busses.
“Currently, 70% of the 12-15 age group are unvaccinated,” Becerra said, “and children under 12 are not eligible for a vaccine at all. Masks are their only line of defense.”
Not only is the virus causing a health crisis emergency that has caused rising hospitalization rates, there is further concern about the health and safety of children and school staff, Becerra added.
“This order is intended to slow down community spread of the COVID-19 virus, and free up hospital space,” he said. “Personal responsibility, undefined, as a disaster response strategy for an infectious disease pandemic is not working.”
Earlier this week, Austin ISD and San Marcos ISD also put out a mask requirement. In response to school districts across Texas mandating masks, Gov. Greg Abbott said he would take any entities that defy his Executive Order GA-36 to court.
Travis County Judge Andy Brown upheld the school districts' decision in Travis County that defy the governor’s order and enforce masks on campus. All public school campuses in Travis County will need to require masks. Additionally, Brown and Austin Mayor Steve Adler signed orders requiring masks in county and city buildings. [pdf-embedder url="https://haysfreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Press-Release-Mask-Mandate.pdf" title="Press Release Mask Mandate"]
