Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley announced on Thursday that he will sign an order requiring masks to be worn in public places, effective 6:00 p.m. Friday, to help stem the spread of the coronavirus.
"We feel like this is the next best step. We believe masks are our best alternative" said Judge Whitley. "Lets not have the rhetoric of revolt against masks. That is the worse that could happen. Let's get our lives back and continue this fight. Let's come together and care about our neighbors."
Judge Whitley cited a 52-percent increase in positive COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks.
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The new Tarrant County order will run from June 26th through August 3rd. The mandate applies to both employees and visitors, as well as outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people.
Judge Whitley says he's making the move so that businesses won't have to close, just as they had to do this past spring. He says he has no intention of putting people in jail for not complying, but individuals not wearing masks may be asked to leave the businesses.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services says hospitals in North Texas had 1,130 COVID-19 patients Thursday morning. Hospitals had 3,113 available beds (about 69% of beds are occupied), 405 available ICU beds and 1,271 available ventilators (about 38 percent of ventilators are in use).
The DFW Hospital Council says COVID-19 patients represent less than ten percent of the total patients at area hospitals.
"We all need to work together to slow the COVID-19 virus spread and at the same time, keep our economy open. Some individual actions would be to wear facial coverings in public, wash your hands frequently, utilize social distancing and practice good personal hygiene. We are all in this together and if we do our part, we will prevail," DFW Hospital Council President Stephen Love wrote in a statement.