Gov. Greg Abbott says 'no mask mandates in Texas' amid rising COVID cases

Despite a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday tweeted “there will be no mask mandates in Texas" — a statement that met with mixed fanfare. Abbott’s post on X, formerly known as Twitter, comes as some institutions nationwide reinstate COVID-era mask mandates due to a summer surge. Hollywood studio Lionsgate and healthcare company Kaiser Permanente reinstated some mask mandates for employees this week, according to an article in The Hill retweeted by Abbott. Colleges including Rutgers University in New Jersey and Morris Brown College in Georgia also reinstated mask mandates for two weeks as a precaution.