BEAUMONT, Texas — As hospitalizations continue climbing in Southeast Texas, it looks like local leaders in Texas may have figured out a way to enforce face mask rules.
This week, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff issued an executive order that mandates businesses create a health and safety policy. Included in that policy is a requirement for staff and customers to wear face coverings.
Businesses caught not complying or enforcing the order could be fined $1,000 per violation.
How can this order be enforced? Gov. Greg Abbott said people can't be punished for not wearing a mask. But Judge Wolff's order doesn't punish people, it punishes businesses.
Gov. Abbott gave his approval on the order, saying Wolff "finally figured out" what local leaders can do to enforce wearing masks.
Now local leaders in Southeast Texas are left to figure out if they want to make a similar order. Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bartie told 12News this is something he may be in favor of.
"It's not to be malicious or trying to be big government, so to speak. But a government that is concerned and a government that cares enough to say, 'okay citizens, this is what you are going to have to do because if you don't do it, we are going to get negative results,'" Bartie said.
12News reached out to Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick and Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames Wednesday night. So far, there has been no comment about if they are considering requiring businesses to mandate face masks.
"If a business has a rule that you have to wear a face mask, they can actually enforce that in their private facility," Bartie said.
Support for requiring face masks or coverings is something that is receiving mixed reviews among leaders in Southeast Texas.
"What if they contract the coronavirus even after I say they have to wear a face mask and want to sue the city," Orange Mayor Larry Spears, Jr. said. "But I am open to those suggestions and will be talking to the city manager about them."
Hardin County Judge Wayne McDaniel told 12News he does not believe that wearing face masks in public should be mandatory, and he believes the governor should let that decision be in the hands of city and county leaders.
