No Surge in COVID Two Weeks After Mask Mandate Lifted in Texas

Vanessa Zubia-Meza and her mother Margie Zubia are pictured in the window of their new restaurant called El Paseo in downtown El Paso, Texas on May 18, 2020. Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images

After two weeks of lifting its mask mandate and allowing businesses to open at full capacity, Texas is not seeing a surge of new COVID-19 cases.

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued an executive order (pdf) that went into effect on March 10 to loosen COVID-19 restrictions. Although the government’s statewide mask mandate was lifted, individual businesses were still able to “limit capacity” or impose mask mandates at their own choosing.