HOUSTON - Houston city workers are being told they must resume wearing masks while on the job, a requirement that could go against Gov. Greg Abbott's most recent executive order banning such mandates.
Mayor Sylvester Turner issued the mask mandate on Monday due to a "recent uptick in positive COVID-19 cases in our community and in our workplace linked to the new delta variant."
"It is so very important that we remain vigilant in doing our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19," Turner wrote in memo to all city employees. The new order was first reported on by the Houston Chronicle.
The new order requires all employees to wear a mask while on city premises and when they can't be socially distant from others.
Officials in Dallas and Williamson counties this week put in place new orders requiring people to wear masks inside county courthouses. They cited a Texas Supreme Court order they say lets the judiciary take reasonable actions to protect people from COVID-19.
During Tuesday's meeting of Dallas County Commissioners Court, County Judge Clay Jenkins required all in attendance to wear masks. Jenkins said that because the county's highest executive body is a court in name, he had authority to require masks, the Dallas Morning News reported. Jenkins is not a judicial judge but is the county's top elected official.
Commissioner J.J. Koch, a Republican, refused to wear a mask during the meeting. Jenkins, a Democrat, had a bailiff remove Koch to another room, where he joined the meeting virtually.
Last month, Abbott repeated his executive order banning mask mandates by any state, county or local government entity.
Abbott has previously said that local governments attempting to impose mask mandates could be fined up to $1,000.
Similar local mask mandates that appeared to be in conflict with state orders have faced legal action by the Texas Attorney General's Office.
A spokeswoman for Abbott's office and a spokesperson for the attorney general's office didn't immediately reply to emails seeking comment Tuesday.
In a statement Tuesday, Houston City Attorney Arturo Michel said Abbott's order does not "limit the city's rights as an employer to establish reasonable and necessary workplace safety rules for its employees."
The mask mandate in Houston comes as hospitalizations across the state continue to rise due in part to the highly contagious delta variant.