Nirenberg, Wolff to ask Governor to allow government worker, school mask mandate

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — San Antonio Metro Health is recommending all people ages two and up, including those who are vaccinated, to wear masks in indoor public settings.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the city wants to remain in lockstep with the CDC and their guidance. The CDC’s guidance changed Tuesday stating that mask-wearing is recommended in public in areas where the delta variant of COVID-19 is running rampant.

The recommendation by city officials includes students and teachers, including on school buses. Officials also said school staff and students should be supported in quarantining during the school year for those who test positive.

Nirenberg said that he is joining Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff in sending a letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott asking to amend the government order regarding face masks to allow governmental employers and school officials to enact mask mandates.

Wolff said city officials would like to mandate mask-wearing at the courthouse due to how heavily trafficked the building is. As of now, mask-wearing is just a recommendation.

Wolff said the city is waiting to see if there will be some sort of federal mandate related to government officials and city attorney Andrew Segovia said San Antonio would follow federal authority unless the court says otherwise.

“As you know, students younger than 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccination,” Nirenberg said. “So it’s on all of us to protect those young people in our community. The unvaccinated population of students deserves that, deserves the protection afforded by wearing masks and for us to exhibit our compassion towards the young people in our community.”

City officials said that hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are up to 629 and that 600 of those are unvaccinated. 192 people are currently in intensive care and 86 are on ventilators locally.

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