Coronavirus: Tougher Mask Rules Coming To Austin, Travis County

AUSTIN, TX — The Travis County Commissioners Court toughened rules on the wearing of facial coverings to help blunt spread of the new coronavirus, unanimously voting to require the practice at county facilities with violators subject to trespassing charges.

The new requirement calls for most everyone over the age of 10 to wear face coverings when entering county facilities. Exceptions to the rule will be made for those with medical conditions who may have their health compromised by covering their nose and mouth.

Those refusing to wear a mask will be barred entry into a county building, according to the newly passed rule. Those entering without face coverings will face criminal trespass charges, according to the measures.

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The county requirement comes in the wake of Austin having entered Stage 4 of its coronavirus risk-based guidelines sparked by a rolling seven-day average of more than 20 daily hospitalizations for the respiratory illness. City officials have used 20 as barometer dictating the scale of reopening the local economy.

In an emailed statement, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said further steps are afoot to expand the mandatory practice of wearing masks across the city. The newly reinvigorated initiative came after Gov. Greg Abbott suggested in a news conference that cities can issue trespassing charges even while not being able to issue fines for violators per his previous executive order barring them from doing so.

"The governor has now given us a path, and we will act consistent with his statement," Adler said in a prepared statement. "Wearing masks is important — to our health and to opening up the economy. We will be entering an order directing businesses to come up with a simple safety plan over the next several days. Austin businesses are great and many of them, if not most, have already done this. During this time, we will transition to a more direct order on masks, working with our business community so our whole city moves forward together and so that everyone can get prepared."

Read the mayor's mandatory health and safety policies

By Thursday, Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe signed an order directing businesses to require employees and customers to wear face masks. The order went into effect at midnight on Thursday, and is in effect until Aug. 15.

Officials at various Texas municipalities have decried the governor's stance on mask wearing, even as the state experiences record levels of new cases of the contagious respiratory illness along with soaring rates of hospitalizations. Abbott has cited the virtues of "individual responsibility" in his position that people not wearing face coverings amid pandemic should not be fined or jailed.

In neighboring San Antonio, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff pushed the boundaries of what municipalities are allowed without running afoul of the governor's orders, issuing an order on Wednesday mandating that businesses require customers and workers to wear protective face coverings while on the premises. The move comes after Abbott again denied local officials the leeway in crafting mandatory rules related to mask wearing.

Wolff's order gives businesses until Monday to adopt "health and safety" policies requiring facial coverings for customers and employees or risk a $1,000 fine. “The action that I’m taking today may be pushing the legal bounds a little bit,” Wolff acknowledged, as reported by MySA.com. “But our attorneys believe we can defend this order in court.”

However, a spokesman for the governor suggested Wolff's actions might still accommodate Abbott's orders: “Judge Wolff’s order is not inconsistent with the governor’s executive order,” Abbott spokesman John Wittman told the website.