Texas Governor Greg Abbott made a boneheaded and ultimately dangerous decision to ban mask mandates for the state's school districts. He has even said that any school district that chose to impose a mask mandate could face losing funding from the state and fines. Of course, the fact that he is now having to beg for out-of-state medical workers to come and take care of the exploding numbers of COVID-19 Delta variant patients in our state's hospitals hasn't changed his mind at all. And it's pretty clear that he doesn't care that he is not only exposing them to the Delta variant but he's also risking taking those medical workers from hospitals in their home states, hospitals that might need them on a moment's notice because the Delta variant numbers are exploding nationwide.

Public schools in the state of Texas might not be able to impose a mask mandate, although many are and many are thinking about it, but private schools don't have that worry. They are self-governing and don't have to abide by Abbott's ban on mask mandates. A few private schools in El Paso have already put a mask mandate into place for this school year.

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Cathedral, Lorretto, and Radford officials say they are imposing mask mandates and other COVID-19 measures for the safety of their students and staff. Temperature checks, desk shields, and sanitization stations are being used to help stop the spread of not only the original COVID-19 virus but also the Delta variant which is now present in El Paso. It sounds like a good idea and it's too bad that Abbott has made it almost impossible for public schools to do the same.

The Socorro Independent School District discussed the possibility of a mask mandate at their regular school board meeting earlier this week. They didn't take any action on it but said that they might revisit the subject again at a meeting next week. If any local school districts decide to defy Abbott's mask mandate ban we will let you know as soon as that information become available.

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