AUSTIN—Texas physicians today called on Gov. Greg Abbott and state Republican legislators to reverse dangerous policies that are worsening COVID-19 outbreaks and putting lives at risk. The Texas doctors blasted Abbott’s executive order last week banning government vaccine requirements even after full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and some Republicans’ proposed legislation that prohibits local schools and communities from implementing safety measures such as masks and vaccinations.

“The danger of these policies to people’s health and safety could not be clearer in light of the fact that Texas is experiencing significant outbreaks across the board because of the extremely contagious Delta variant,” said Dr. Erin Amjadi, an internist in Austin. “Parents like me need Gov. Abbott to look out for our kids, not that small minority of parents who claim ‘oppression of their rights’ who don’t seem to understand or care about their children potentially contracting or spreading a very serious disease and possibly suffering CVlong term consequences or worse. Doctors, health workers and hospitals are doing everything in our power to protect the families we serve, and we are pleading with Gov. Abbott and legislators in Austin to support strategies that can help get more people vaccinated and wearing masks so we can slow COVID-19 now and save lives.”

Gov. Abbott’s executive order banning local schools and communities from requiring vaccinations is the latest attack on public health measures that can help reduce COVID-19 infections. Republicans in the Legislature have introduced a bill to block schools from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations, even though Texas was a national leader in requiring students to get vaccinated for tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and rubella, hepatitis B, chickenpox, meningitis and hepatitis A. The Texas Legislature is also weighing proposals to codify the ban on schools from requiring masks.

Meanwhile, more than 20,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported among students in Texas schools since Aug. 2. Schools across Texas are shutting down because of COVID-19 outbreaks, with one school closing after two teachers died from the disease. Parents of children infected with COVID-19 are directly blaming their sickness on the lack of safety measures in schools and pleading with schools to take action—action Gov. Abbott’s order blocked.

“COVID-19 is hammering local schools, sickening kids and teachers, and filling up our hospitals -- and as doctors, we’re asking Gov. Greg Abbott to help us keep children and their families safer when they’re in school by slowing the spread of this disease with safety measures we know work, namely vaccinations and masks,” said Dr. Elena Jiménez-Gutiérrez, an Internal Medicine physician in San Antonio. “Doctors and other health workers see every day how too many Texans are needlessly getting sick, including many children, when we know this disease can be prevented. Sadly, instead of listening to medical professionals and following scientific evidence, Gov. Abbott and his political allies in the state Legislature have chosen NOT to protect Texans, and in fact, have chosen to endanger Texans. They have chosen to endanger us by doubling down on reckless strategies that undermine public health and will lead to more outbreaks, more suffering, and more deaths. Doctors and hospitals are scrambling to protect adults and children alike from COVID-19, and Gov. Abbott is sending us into the fight blindfolded, with both our hands tied behind our backs, and without any public health weapons at our disposal.”

Because of the skyrocketing COVID-19 cases, Texas hospitals are now relying on out-of-state health workers, with more than 8,000 of them now being deployed across the state. This week, Texas reported more than 3 million people have been sickened with COVID-19. Hospitalizations this week are up 110 percent compared with a month ago and at least 100 Tex as hospitals reported they had no ICU beds available because of the COVID-19 patient surge between Aug. 20 and Aug. 26. Entire communities are shutting down, patients in rural Texas must wait to be transferred to faraway hospitals that still have beds, and at least one non-COVID-19 patient is reported to have died while waiting for an ICU bed to become available during a COVID-19 surge.

“As physicians, we are extremely frustrated and angry that our leaders are willfully endangering the lives of every Texan, including patients forced to wait for care and children who shouldn’t be getting sick from a preventable disease,” said Dr. David Portugal, a cardiologist in Houston. “We see with our own eyes how hospitals are stretched to the breaking point—how our medical staff, especially our intensivists, ER physicians, hospitalists, and our nursing staff are being pushed to exhaustion. We should all be extremely concerned when refrigerated trucks are being brought in because hospital morgues are filling up with dead people who should still be alive. Had Gov. Abbott and politicians in Austin followed the science and rallied Texans to unite behind the simple act of wearing a mask and getting vaccinated, fewer Texans would be suffering and grieving right now. Gov. Abbott and all Republican lawmakers should focus all their efforts on fighting the disease, not the safety measures that protect people from the disease.”

About the Committee to Protect Health Care

The Committee to Protect Health Care, formerly known as the Committee to Protect Medicare, is a national mobilization of doctors, healthcare professionals, and advocates who are building a pro-patient healthcare majority in Congress and in states so that we can live in an America where everyone has the healthcare they need to thrive. To learn more: www.committeetoprotect.org.