Cheerleaders at Louise High School perform in the auditorium as other students watch during a pep rally, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Louise, Texas, U.S., November 20, 2020. /Reuters
Local officials in Texas who have been battling their governor over mask mandates said they would continue to require face coverings in schools despite a setback in the state Supreme Court.
The latest manifestation of the political divide over how to beat back the coronavirus comes as the highly transmissible Delta variant is leading a spike in new cases, including among children.
The highest court in the state on Sunday voided two temporary lower court orders that had permitted counties that are home to Dallas and San Antonio, the state's most populous cities after Houston, to require masks in schools. The lower court orders had overruled an order by Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
The local mask orders align with the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As the Dallas Independent School District welcomed students back to class on Monday for the start of the academic year, its website declared, "We are still requiring that masks be worn while on district property."
Officials in Dallas County and San Antonio noted the high court ruling still allows them to make their legal cases for a permanent court order against the governor's anti-mask mandate.
As of last week, Texas and seven other states with Republican governors – Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina and Utah – had passed laws or issued orders preventing local officials from making mask-wearing mandatory, according to Pew Charitable Trusts.
Many Republicans have said that wearing masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus should be a personal choice, which in the case of schoolchildren should be decided by parents.
The number of new COVID-19 cases fueled by the Delta variant jumped about 81 percent over the past 14 days to 1.67 million cases in the United States, according to a Reuters tally.
The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States was 1,834 on Monday after hitting a record high of 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Children currently make up about 2.4 percent of the nation's COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive coronavirus vaccines, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new variant.