Governor Greg Abbott announced lifting of a mask mandate all over the state

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued restrictions of any U.S. state on Tuesday, lifting a mask mandate and saying most businesses may open with no capacity limits.

“I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%,” he tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. “EVERYTHING.”
Federal health officials warned not to ease restrictions, Mr. Abbott refused to give a second thought.

According to him, the state is in a position to treat people infected with the virus. Texas can test large numbers of people for the virus each day. The state already administered 5.7 million vaccine shots for citizens.

“To be clear, Covid has not, like, suddenly disappeared,” Mr. Abbott said. “Covid still exists in Texas and the United States and across the globe.”

Even so, he said, “state mandates are no longer needed” because advanced treatments are now available for people with Covid-19.

“People and businesses don’t need the state telling them how to operate,” he said.
Target and Macy’s said on Tuesday that they would continue requiring customers and employees to wear masks, Reuters reported.
General Motors and Toyota said their employees in the state would also still be required to wear masks.

Democratic leader prompted quips to the announcement.. Gilberto Hinojosa, the state party chairman, said in a statement,“What Abbott is doing is extraordinarily dangerous,” adding, “This will kill Texans. Our country’s infectious-disease specialists have warned that we should not put our guard down, even as we make progress towards vaccinations. Abbott doesn’t care.”