Fayette Loses Mask Exemption

Fayette County lost its exemption from Governor Greg Abbott’s statewide mask mandate last week.

Governor Greg Abbott issued the statewide mask mandate on July 2 with executive order GA-29. The order included a provision that counties could apply for an exemption if they had fewer than 30 active cases in the past 14 days.

County Judge Joe Weber applied for the exemption on Oct 14 and the state granted it a few days later. Even though Fayette County had an exemption, Weber never actually implemented it. At the time, Weber said he wanted to wait and see how the Fall Antiques Shows in northern Fayette County affected coronavirus numbers.

The Texas Department of Emergency Management notified Weber on Nov. 12 that Fayette County was no longer exempt from the order due to rising case numbers. On that day, Fayette County had 32 active cases over the previous 14 days.

Fayette County will be eligible to reapply after 14 days if the county is able to maintain 30 or fewer cases during a two-week period. As of Tuesday, Fayette County had 36 new cases over the previous 14 days, according to figures from the Texas Department of State Health Services.