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The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday decided to temporarily allow school districts and some local governments to require masks on their property, rejecting Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to expedite his challenge to the mandates. The court’s decision came within hours of new guidance from the Texas Education Agency that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s order banning mask requirements would not be enforced “as the result of the ongoing litigation.” (Scherer, 8/19)

The Texas Education Agency said it would temporarily stop enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates and the State Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing school districts to require face-coverings. Both decisions are temporary. The agency said in new guidance on Thursday that it would immediately stop enforcing the ban on mask mandates until litigations were resolved. In a reversal, the agency’s new guidance requires schools to notify their local health department if a student tests positive. The school must also notify students in the same classroom as well as those who share extracurricular activities. (DePasquale and Hard, 8/20)

The Texas Supreme Court declined Thursday to block restraining orders against Gov. Greg Abbott’s mask mandate ban. The justices remanded Attorney General Ken Paxton’s appeal to the 3rd Texas Court of Appeal in Austin for a hearing. The court did not issue an opinion for its decision. The move came the same day that the Texas Education Agency suspended enforcement of the state’s public school systems of Abbott’s ban on mask mandates has been dropped, for now, the Texas Education Agency said Thursday. (Wallace, 8/20)

Texas schools now will be required to contact parents of children who are exposed to positive COVID-19 cases, per new guidance from the state. The Texas Education Agency’s new safety guidelines for public schools released Thursday say that schools must notify all teachers, staff and families of students who are in contact with someone in a classroom or extracurricular activity who has a test-confirmed case of COVID. The new requirement is effective immediately. (Dellinger and Serrano, 8/19)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has undergone COVID-19 antibody treatment following his breakthrough positive diagnosis. “Governor Abbott’s doctor prescribed Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody therapy treatment, which is available at no cost to all Texans who get a doctor’s referral,” Abbott’s office said in a statement Thursday. “It is recommended that Texans testing positive for COVID-19 seek this antibody therapeutic drug because of its effectiveness to help keep people out of hospitals.” (Oshin, 8/19)

People criticizing the Republican leadership of Texas for the state’s rising COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths should instead blame unvaccinated African Americans, said Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in a Thursday night interview with Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham. “The COVID is spreading, particularly, most of the numbers are on the unvaccinated,” Patrick said in response to a question about people attacking the policies of Governor Greg Abbott, who is embroiled in legal battles with school districts and counties that have required masks despite the Republican governor’s ban on such mandates. (Zong, 8/19)