Multiple Texas counties are forgoing Abbott’s orders in the interest of public safety.

Out of all US states, one of the hardest hit by the recent COVID-19 surge caused by the Delta variant has been Texas. According to medical data from the Texas state health department, the state has been averaging 14,000 new COVID cases weekly and approximately 60 deaths weekly. That’s three times as many cases and deaths compared to this time last month. In an effort to slow the pandemic however they can, local officials have been attempting to reinstate mask mandates, but have been hitting walls due to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s bill forbidding local mask mandates.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has just issued a new mask order that requires facial coverings inside schools, some businesses, and all government buildings because of the rise in COVID-19 cases. pic.twitter.com/o6yskNNQjE

— J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) August 11, 2021

Even so, multiple county authorities have been either skirting the bill or ignoring it entirely in order to get the cases under control. One such county is Dallas county, where yesterday Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins signed an order requiring public schools, child care centers and businesses to develop detailed counter-COVID health plans, one of the required elements of which being mask mandates.

A Dallas school district announced that everyone — students, employees and visitors — must wear a mask while on school property starting Tuesday, defying an executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott that bans school districts from requiring masks. https://t.co/mJs2hLTcvW

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 9, 2021

In response, Abbott, along with state Attorney General Ken Paxton, filed a petition to halt Jenkins’ order. “Any school district, public university, or local government official that decides to defy GA-38—which prohibits gov’t entities from mandating masks— will be taken to court,” Abbott said in a public statement. “The path forward relies on personal responsibility— not government mandates.”

A hearing on this matter is scheduled to take place on August 24.