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Gov. Greg Abbott appealed for out-of-state help Monday to fight the third wave of COVID-19 in Texas.

The request came as a county-owned hospital in Houston raised tents to accommodate their COVID-19 overflow. Private hospitals in the county already were requiring their staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Meantime, the Dallas school district announced Monday that it would require students and staff to wear face masks starting today. The Houston school district already announced a mask mandate for its students and staff later this week if its board approves.

The highly contagious delta variant is fueling the wave.

Abbott has directed the Texas Department of State Health Services to use staffing agencies to find additional medical staff from beyond the state’s borders as the delta wave began to overwhelm its present staffing resources. He also has sent a letter to the Texas Hospital Association to request that hospitals postpone all elective medical procedures voluntarily.

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Despite the latest surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Gov. Greg Abbott has said he is prohibiting local governments and school districts from requiring anyone to wear a mask in our public schools. Calls for a change to this policy from parents, teachers and doctors are growing more urgent as the alarming numbers continue to climb. What has received less attention are important questions about the legal basis for the governor’s attempted prohibition.

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prohibiting local governments and school districts from requiring anyone to wear a mask

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Instructors may request students wear face coverings in classes but must also make it clear face coverings are not required. It is permissible to provide extra face coverings in the classroom as long as it is clear face coverings are not required.

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A new preprint study that raises concerns about the mRNA vaccines' effectiveness against Delta — particularly Pfizer's — has already grabbed the attention of top Biden administration officials.

What they're saying: The study found the Pfizer vaccine was only 42% effective against infection in July, when the Delta variant was dominant. "If that's not a wakeup call, I don't know what is," a senior Biden official told Axios.

Driving the news: The study, conducted by nference and the Mayo Clinic, compared the effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the Mayo Clinic Health System over time from January to July.

Overall, it found that the Moderna vaccine was 86% effective against infection over the study period, and Pfizer's was 76%. Moderna's vaccine was 92% effective against hospitalization and Pfizer's was 85%.

But the vaccines' effectiveness against infection dropped sharply in July, when the Delta variant's prevalence in Minnesota had risen to over 70%.
Moderna was 76% effective against infection, and Pfizer was only 42% effective.

The study found similar results in other states. For example, in Florida, the risk of infection in July for people fully vaccinated with Moderna was about 60% lower than for people fully vaccinated with Pfizer.

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To enter Lollapalooza, concert-goers were required to show a printed copy of their COVID vaccine card, vaccine record or negative coronavirus test results obtained within 72 hours of entering.

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A total of 203 people who attended Lollapalooza have since confirmed to health officials that they later tested positive for COVID-19, Chicago's top doctor said Thursday.

A total of 58 Chicago residents, 138 non-Chicago Illinois residents and seven out-of-state residents who all attended the festival have since tested positive, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a news conference in which she said there was "no evidence" that Lollapalooza was a superspreader event.

Arwady delivered the update exactly two weeks after the four-day Lollapalooza music festival kicked off in the city's Grant Park.

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Justice Amy Coney Barrett denies request to block Indiana University's vaccine mandate

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(CNN)Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging and in Dallas County, Texas, there are "zero ICU beds left for children," county judge Clay Jenkins said in a news conference Friday morning.

"That means if your child's in a car wreck, if your child has a congenital heart defect or something and needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have Covid and need an ICU bed, we don't have one. Your child will wait for another child to die," Jenkins said. "Your child will just not get on the ventilator, your child will be CareFlighted to Temple or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won't be getting one here unless one clears."

The judge added no ICU beds have been available for children for at least 24 hours. The Texas Department of State Health Services told CNN the shortage of pediatric ICU beds is related to a shortage in medical staff.

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“We do need to push back on these attempts to erode local control because government works best when it's closest to the people," Jenkins said. "But we need to remember also ... this is not a battle between Gov. Abbott and local leaders who happen to be Democrats or school board members."
"We are all on team public health," the judge said. "And every person needs to understand that the enemy is the virus, it's not each other."

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The husband of Tennessee’s former vaccinations director says they are planning to move out of the state this fall amid growing tension over efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Their move to northern Virginia was in the works before a contentious school board meeting that he took part in Tuesday to discuss mask mandates, Brad Fiscus told WPLN-FM.

Fiscus is a school board member in Williamson County, where protesters held signs with messages saying, “I will not let you muzzle my child,” and “My child, my choice.” Some had to be escorted out by law enforcement. The county is just south of Nashville.

Fiscus said the meeting was another example of why they feel they have to move — that public health has become more political in Tennessee during the pandemic.

His wife, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, was fired this summer amid Republican outrage over her push to inoculate teenagers against Covid-19.

Brad Fiscus said the move is bittersweet because they had planned to stay in their home in Franklin, Tennessee, until retirement. But the move to Virginia will give his wife more opportunities to continue working in public health, he said.

Michelle Fiscus formerly served as medical director for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization programs at the Tennessee Department of Health. She said the state’s elected leaders put politics over the health of children by firing her for her efforts to get more Tennesseans vaccinated.