County Commissioner J.J. Koch Removed From Dallas Meeting After Refusing To Wear Mask
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas County Commissioner J.J. Koch (R-Pct. 2) was escorted out of Tuesday's Aug. 3 commissioner's meeting for not wearing a face mask.
Democratic county Judge Clay Jenkins asked a bailiff to remove Koch from the Dallas County courtroom after he refused. Koch gathered his belongings and left.
Everyone else in the room wore masks.
From government workers, to students, a return to mask-wearing seems evident now that Texas is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Texas lawmakers' calls are growing louder for students to be required to wear face masks as they return to in-person learning in just a few weeks. In a letter penned by Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin, lawmakers urged Gov. Greg Abbott to reconsider his executive order that bans mask requirements in public schools, saying they want schools to have more say on masks.
"There will be no mask mandate imposed. And the reason for that is very clear, there are so many people who have immunities," said Gov. Abbott on Wednesday, July 21
The petition was signed by 31 members of the Texas House.
The lawmakers cited that children under 12 cannot get the vaccine, which puts students at a high risk of infection. "Putting them all in one building without masks is foolish," the letter stated.
The House members also said they want the governor to "enact policies that will allow districts to implement virtual schooling this fall."
