Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order on Tuesday has caused mixed feelings among UTRGV students with several agreeing with his decision and others opposing it.
On March 2, the governor announced the decision to lift the mask mandate and increase capacity of all businesses and facilities in Texas to 100%, which takes effect Wednesday.
Individuals, such as Eugenio Flores Jr., share his thoughts on the matter on social media.
“My thoughts are obvious on the message,” Flores said. “It’s more center and leaning toward the right, like more of common sense, but I guess I’m being attacked now that people think I’m misrepresenting the subject.”
Flores said Abbott’s executive order is straightforward.
“It’s do what you want,” he said. “You want to wear a mask? Wear it. You want to open your restaurant at a hundred percent? Go for it. You want to keep it at 20 percent and you can live off of that? Then, you know, good for you. Awesome that you can still make a living off of that.”
However, individuals such as counseling and guidance graduate student Jacqueline Guillen said it is too soon to open everything to 100 percent.
“I understand that the cases seem to have been going down, but at the end of the day, like, wasn’t that the goal to bring them down,” Guillen said. “So, I just think it’s a really hasty choice still open everything back up. And then on top of that, roll back on the mask mandate.”
Nursing senior Kevin Perez shares that he will keep wearing his mask until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says otherwise.
UTRGV emailed the campus community Thursday stating that the university will continue to enforce all of the COVID-19 protocols until further notice. All UTRGV’s protocols can be found on the Commitment to Safety and Success webpage.
Perez said the university has the right idea.
“They’re actually doing great by still requiring masks on campus. And this is probably the best way to do so,” he said.
However, Flores believes UTRGV should not enforce the COVID-19 protocols.
“This should be like recommended, like, no students should be punished for not wearing a mask, now that this mandate has come from the governor. It gives students more freedom of choosing what to do,” he said,
UTRGV SGA president Victoria Lozano asked students on social media to fill out a survey regarding their thoughts on the mask mandate.
SGA Vice President for Edinburg Samantha Aleman says the association wants to share the results to UTRGV administration.
“When we saw about the mask mandate, we immediately jumped in,” Aleman said. “So, there was a direct line of communication with students and administration and … we hope with those results, we hope to tell university administration, this is how students feel or what can we do for these students.”
According to the vice president, SGA will speak with UTRGV President Guy Bailey and other officials in a closed meeting at 3 p.m. today virtually.
