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Plano ISD requests authority for mask mandate against COVID-19 in letter to Greg Abbott

School starts up as concern over the COVID-19 variant arises. The Plano ISD Board of Trustees is drafting a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott requesting the authority to mandate masks in the district.
Plano ISD requests authority for mask mandate as school starts up and concern over the COVID-19 variant arises.
School starts up as concern over the COVID-19 variant arises.

The Plano ISD Board of Trustees is drafting a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott requesting the authority to mandate masks in the district.

Fox 4 news anchor Lauren Przybyl broke the news on Facebook on Aug. 9, stating the board believes that "local leaders should be able to decide what is happening to local students and families."

Lauren Przybyl announced Plano ISD's decision on Facebook yesterday.

Plano ISD is the latest in a string of school districts across the state that have pushed back on Abbott's July executive order banning mask and vaccine mandates.

So far Dallas, Austin, Houston, Socorro and Pharr-San Juan-Alamo independent school districts have all mandated masks. Both the City of San Antonio and Bexar County and lawyer Hank Bostwick from the Southern Center for Child Advocacy have filed lawsuits against Abbott.

A mask mandate across Plano ISD would be in accordance with the most recent CDC guideline stating that even fully vaccinated people should wear masks indoors to protect against the COVID-19 Delta variant.

The Delta variant is highly contagious and can cause "breakthrough infections," meaning it can infect fully vaccinated people. However, unvaccinated people are at the highest risk of hospitalization from the Delta variant, which is more deadly than the original Covid-19 strain.


Read more about the Delta variant's impact on Collin County.