--- title: Lina Hidalgo Responds to Texas Governor Ending Mask Mandates description: Texas Governor Greg Abbott ended the state's mask mandate and said businesses can fully reopen, but Harris Country Judge Lina Hidalgo says COVID-19 is not over and urges residents not to throw away a year of pain and sacrifice. canonical: https://time.com/5944818/texas-mask-mandate-reopening-lina-hidalgo/ author: Lina Hidalgo article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-03-08T17:13:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:57.397Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Texas Ended Its Mask Mandate But We Can't Let Our Guard Down og:description: "I hope that people of this county won’t allow pandemic politics to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" og:url: https://time.com/5944818/texas-mask-mandate-reopening-lina-hidalgo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fa147022c2db795/698a17c7929fad919dbf7285/texas-houston-abbott-lina-hidalgo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: texas-houston-abbott-lina-hidalgo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Texas Ended Its Mask Mandate But We Can't Let Our Guard Down twitter:description: "I hope that people of this county won’t allow pandemic politics to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fa147022c2db795/698a17c7929fad919dbf7285/texas-houston-abbott-lina-hidalgo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The End of the Mask Mandate in Texas Doesn't Mean We Should Let Our Guard Down > Sponsored content. 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TIME followed the vaccination process from a Walgreens freezer to a long-term care facility to see what the roll out can look like._ by [Lina Hidalgo](https://time.com/author/lina-hidalgo/) ## Lina Hidalgo Mar 8, 2021 5:13 PM UTC  Pedestrians wear masks while walking across a street in downtown Houston, Texas on March 3, 2021. Pedestrians wear masks while walking across a street in downtown Houston, Texas on March 3, 2021. Mark Felix—AFP/Getty Images by [Lina Hidalgo](https://time.com/author/lina-hidalgo/) ## Lina Hidalgo Mar 8, 2021 5:13 PM UTC It has been 12 long months since we first asked the 5 million residents of Harris County to stay home. A year since we asked business owners to make incredible financial sacrifices. Nine months since our hospitals first exceeded their base capacity, and[ 1,200 people died in Harris County in a single month](https://www.dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/TexasCOVID19DailyCountyFatalityCountData.xlsx). There have been countless missed moments, canceled weddings, sparsely attended funerals and live-streamed graduations. Parents have juggled work with homeschooling their children. Days and nights are filled with never-ending compromises to protect our family and community. Leaders should be willing to make sacrifices too. As the chief executive and emergency manager of the nation’s third largest county, home to Houston and 33 smaller cities, I made a promise early on to my constituents: protecting human life would be our North Star, and if we erred, it would be on the side of action. So from the beginning, we held tightly to the advice of some of the world’s most knowledgeable infectious-disease specialists. We consulted regularly with colleagues across the nation and world in search of best practices. Together with our health department as well as researchers from esteemed medical institutions and Rice University**,** we based our decisions on the truth as represented by the rush of data we collected and the experts’ best analyses. Our decisions haven’t always been popular with everyone, but I can sleep at night knowing every one of them put safety and the community first. I’ll let history sort out the rest. Still, politics has a way of intruding on our best intentions. If there is one thing I wish could have been avoided, it is the politicization of the battle against the virus. It was there almost from the beginning, of course. Political posturing and partisan bickering inhibited the [nation’s response to the pandemic](https://time.com/5887432/coronavirus-united-states-failure/). Fighting a [deadly virus](https://time.com/5941537/us-covid-19-deaths-500000/) with rigid political ideology is like trying to wave away a thunderstorm with a hammer. It won’t work, and you’re likely to get hit by lightning. [Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent decision](https://time.com/5944261/greg-abbott-texas-mask-mandate/) to lift the statewide mask mandate and allow restaurants, bars and other businesses to operate at 100% capacity is one of those times. Humbled by the sacrifices made this last year by Harris County residents, health care workers and, well, everyone, I, like many, am frustrated to see it all put at risk by the premature elimination of safeguards. All of us want to enjoy the return to normal lives and an economic rebound. Here in Texas, the recent [winter storm crisis](https://time.com/5940491/texas-power-outage-climate/) deepened our anxieties and fears. The extraordinarily successful national efforts to [accelerate distribution of vaccinations](https://time.com/collection/coronavirus-vaccines-updates/) gives us renewed hope, as does the [relief bill passed by the U.S. Senate](https://time.com/5944774/whats-in-covid-19-relief-bill-senate/). The spread of the disease is on something of a [downward trend in the U.S.](https://time.com/5800901/coronavirus-map/), but it remains a delicate and dangerous time. We have to persevere with every ounce of determination we can muster. The people of Harris County have grit second to none. I’ve had the honor of leading this community through fires, floods and the recent winter storm. Without fail we get up, recover, adapt and come back stronger. We know better than to let our guard down simply because a level of government selected an arbitrary date to issue an all-clear. The vast majority of our community will continue this long march forward. I am proud to see so many businesses and school districts in Harris County decide to keep mask and occupancy requirements in place, despite the state’s lifting of precautions. It is a heavy burden for a community to carry, to continue to sacrifice in spite of false hopes being offered at the highest levels of the state. I am working to clearly explain to the residents of my county that we will spare ourselves unnecessary death and suffering if we just stick with it for a little bit longer. I hope that people of this county won’t allow pandemic politics to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and that we won’t throw away a year of pain and sacrifice so that politicians can have their “mission accomplished” moment. ## Transcript But I am very excited that you finally come up with a vaccine. I feel the weight of it that this is going to do some good for us. And you know that I'm ready for it to start happening. You know, waiting to be in line to get my shot to. Just all the way to the Yankees or. Don't sign for Colbert. So they don't say. I actually. The biggest challenge has been temperature requirements, because that has to be kept at ultracold temperature of negative seven degrees Celsius. Or if we are transporting in a refrigeration, we have a lot more monitoring for that because it's only good for so many hours if the temperature excursion happens. And then there is a lot of responsibility in terms of liability. This vaccine has been very popular, so we have security protocols. We are putting SEALs when they're transporting. We have cameras installed specifically for this over and. Yeah. And be sorry. All right. Keep your arm relaxed. Oh, just the needle all done. You're not even bleeding. So my grandmother actually just passed away, I mean, less than two months ago from it. So to be out here protecting other people's grandparents is really touching me personally. Like, I really appreciate the opportunity and just so happy to be a part of it. The staff members here, we have about 240 that we're doing. We can get through usually with this many immunizations, 40 or 50 an hour at this facility specifically, we have over 100 residents that are all room to room based. So that takes a little more time. And then have you ever had a reaction after receiving a vaccine in the past? I can see how grateful they are. And I'm just grateful and honored to be able to give them the vaccine for me to be able to do it directly. You know, the last patient I just did, she's like, I'm waiting for the vaccine. And I was like, I'm here with the vaccine. And she's like, You're here with the vaccine. So I'm part of the bigger movement of vaccinating basically America. And that's it. Well, that's the easiest one I ever had. I'm glad with hay fever, I was you know, they can't come and visit me and I can't go visit them. But it's. Oh, gosh, it makes me mad anyway. It really is hard. And it's been harder for a lot of other people who have lost folks. And so I haven't had that problem, but it's awful. So I will mask myself any time to prevent that from happening. When I was a kid, everybody knew people who had somebody in their family that had polio. Any vaccine that prevents unnecessary pain and suffering is a good thing to have. All right. I'm just going to sanitize your arm real quick. I am happy that my son sometimes he talks to me on Facebook on face time. This time. And my daughter calls me every night. I know I can touch them and see them, but I just think the time will come. I hope. I hope I'm still alive. 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