Texas Gov. Abbott announces plan to fully reopen businesses, end state mask mandate

Texas’s Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday said he planned to open the state next week "100%," roughly a year after the coronavirus pandemic broke out throughout the U.S.

Abbott issued an executive order that rescinds many of the state’s previous orders, allowing all businesses in the state to fully reopen and revoking the statewide mask mandate as of next Wednesday.

"To be clear, COVID has not, like, suddenly disappeared," Abbott cautioned during a press conference at a restaurant in Lubbock, Texas on Tuesday. "COVID still exists in Texas, the United States and across the globe, but it is clear from the recoveries, the vaccinations, from the reduced hospitalizations and from the safe practices Texans are using that state mandates are no longer needed."