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AUSTIN — In the midst of surging delta COVID-19 cases in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday issued a wide-ranging executive order that doubles down on his personal responsibility mantra.

The order essentially bans any future mask mandates by governments or public school systems.

It dismantles a fail-safe mechanism Abbott crafted when he lifted a statewide mask mandate in early March: No longer will county judges be able to impose their own coronavirus restrictions, such as requiring businesses to operate at half-capacity, if COVID-19 hospitalizations rise above 15% in their region for seven straight days.

The new order also outlaws vaccine requirements by governments or entities receiving public funds. It says private businesses that currently or in the future expect to receive public funds through grants, contracts, loans or other disbursements can’t require customers to prove they’ve been immunized “as a condition of receiving any service or entering any place.”

Abbott, who has been attacked for overreaching his powers during the coronavirus pandemic by two Republican challengers in next year’s election, said he’s simply “providing uniformity in Texas’ COVID response.”

“We must rely on personal responsibility, not gov’t mandates,” the two-term GOP governor tweeted. “Texans will decide for themselves whether they’ll wear masks & open businesses. Vaccines are the best defense & will always remain voluntary.”

Abbott issued his order just hours after the Texas Department of State Health Services on Thursday tweeted about a daunting uptick in COVID-19 infections and infirmities: “In one week, hospitalizations rise 1,726, the 7-day avg. of confirmed cases nearly doubles, and fatalities now increasing. Get FULLY vaccinated ASAP.”

Abbott’s order also followed shortly after President Joe Biden announced Thursday that all civilian federal employees must be vaccinated against the coronavirus or be forced to submit to regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel.

The Biden administration also called on states, territories and local governments to pay $100 to Americans who remain unvaccinated against the coronavirus to get their shots. The president also directed the Defense Department to study how and when to require members of the military to get the shots.

Abbott spokesmen did not respond to a query about whether Biden’s announcements were a partial impetus for his own.

Abbott’s newfound aggressiveness in fighting vaccine requirements and mask orders contrasts with Biden’s new resort to more coercive measures. The Democratic president has decided to push faster and faster immunization of more and more vaccine-hesitant Americans, in hopes of preventing the rapidly spreading delta variant from curtailing recent business reopenings and economic gains.

By contrast, Abbott, who is said to have 2024 presidential ambitions of his own, is growing more strident by the day in attacking Biden’s policies on the U.S.-Mexico border, the economy and the coronavirus pandemic. On the latter, with not a hint of rue or defensiveness, the governor has loudly joined protests by his 2022 GOP primary opponents Don Huffines and Allen West against intrusive governmental requirements on face coverings and vaccine take-up.

“Texans have mastered the safe practices that help to prevent and avoid the spread of COVID-19,” Abbott said in a written statement.

“They have the individual right and responsibility to decide for themselves and their children whether they will wear masks, open their businesses and engage in leisure activities. Vaccines, which remain in abundant supply, are the most effective defense against the virus, and they will always remain voluntary — never forced — in the State of Texas.”

Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat and retired nurse, said Abbott’s action, while “true to form,” will unnecessarily impede local officials’ efforts to keep residents safe.

“This is beyond inaction — this is the governor tying the hands of health experts who are trying to keep Texans healthy as cases and hospitalizations increase,” Howard said in a written statement. She noted that vaccines for children are not yet available, and lamented that Abbott is taking away mitigation measures from school districts just weeks before school starts.

Other provisions of the order

Under Abbott’s order, government-owned and -operated acute care hospitals and state supported living centers for the intellectually and developmentally disabled may continue to require masks. But they can’t compel vaccination. Also, prisons, juvenile lockups and city and county jails “may continue to use appropriate policies regarding the wearing of face coverings.”

The order also suspends a provision of the state Health and Safety Code that allows state and local public health officials to require individuals to disclose their immunization status and “take appropriate action during a quarantine to protect that individual and the public from the communicable disease.”

State agencies and localities can’t do anything that pegs entry to a place or receipt of a service to an “individual’s vaccination status for any COVID-l9 vaccine administered under an emergency use authorization,” the executive order says.

As he highlighted emergency use authorization, Abbott was referring to the federal Food and Drug Administration’s provisional approval months ago of vaccines by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen. It was based on large clinical trials, but final FDA approval is still pending.

Abbott’s own state health commissioner, Dr. John Hellerstedt, though, did not stint Thursday in praising the three available COVID-19 vaccines.

“Simply put, the vaccines work,” Hellerstedt said in a video he tweeted.

“However, over the past weeks, we are seeing a sharp rise in the spread of COVID-19 across Texas. More contagious variants, especially the delta variant, are spreading quickly.”

Dallas-Fort Worth isn’t exempt.

With current vaccination rates and public behavior in North Texas, Dallas County could see more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases per day by Aug. 16 and Tarrant County could see around 1,500 more a day by then, according to UT Southwestern Medical Center’s latest forecasting model with data as of July 26.

The previous UTSW model, which used data as of July 19, predicted Dallas County would see roughly 600 new coronavirus infections per day by Aug. 9.

Clay Jenkins’ response

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, a Democrat who has tangled with the governor over pandemic measures since March 2020, said Thursday that he wasn’t surprised by Abbott’s order. Jenkins asked North Texans to listen to guidance by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that masks and vaccines are essential to stop the spread of the disease.

“His actions have been entirely poll-driven,” Jenkins said. “The governor isn’t focused on listening to what the local doctors in Texas are saying.”

Since Abbott’s earlier orders limiting county actions to stop the spread of the disease, Jenkins said his focus has been working with schools and businesses to enact their own restrictions rather than mandating them through a government order. He said that won’t change.

“The biggest impact of what’s happening today is what the governor has said, which is demoralizing for schools and hospitals,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said that the ban on vaccine requirements at hospitals “should be a concern for anyone going to the hospital for any reason” and that if children and teachers at schools don’t wear masks, an outbreak could mean another end to in-person instruction.

“We need to listen to the people who are trained to advise us and their primary concern and focus is our safety, our children’s safety, not their own interest,” Jenkins said, reiterating that Abbott’s move was primarily political, not in the interest of public health. “You could just about watch an hour of Fox News each night and know what he’s going to do.”

Abbott spokesmen also did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Jenkins’ remarks.