Tarrant County Extends Face Mask Order To Nov. 30
TARRANT COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - Tarrant County has extended its face mask order for businesses to Nov. 30 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
County Judge Glen Whitley issued the extension to the order and his disaster declaration on Tuesday in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.
The order was originally issued on June 25, requiring residents and employees inside businesses to wear a face mask or covering.
Whitley said Tuesday he believes wearing face masks is a small inconvenience but necessary to avoid another shutdown.
"The last thing in the world we want to do this time is to relax, decide we've past this and get back to normal and then we'll have another big spike," Whitley said.
The extension was met with what's become a weekly wave of opposition from people who believe the orders are going too far with virus numbers falling.
On Tuesday, the criticism was directed toward the county's public health director, Vinny Taneja, as he continues to recommend staying home while acknowledging virus numbers are improving.
"We're really comfortable at this point that the trend, that it's go some force coming down," Taneja said.
However, Taneja said the county is working on releasing new data on the virus spread broken down by high school attendance zones. This comes after the community met the initial goals health authorities listed for the safer reopening of schools.
Health officials are planning a call with school superintendents this week to discuss the data with them and then making it available for the public to see.
The county currently has 40,331 total confirmed cases of COVID-19, along with 519 deaths. The county also reported 32,670 patients have recovered from the virus.
The judge's executive order can be read here.
