- UN calls on Taliban to ‘immediately halt offensive’, citing humanitarian concerns
- Pentagon says leaders concerned by Taliban’s speed
- CDC officially recommends Covid booster shots for immunocompromised people
- July was hottest month Earth has ever recorded, scientists confirm
- Biden’s eviction moratorium survives first legal test
- Taliban seize four more provincial capitals in Afghanistan
The White House says the US has seen the strongest 24 hours of vaccinations since before the 4 July holiday:
Strongest 24 hours of vaccinations since before July 4th.
Vaccine requirements and incentives are starting to pay off — as well as the tragedy of seeing so much needless illness and loss due to Delta’s impact on the unvaccinated. https://t.co/EKk2zdDzuj
Related: Texas and Florida accounted for nearly 40% of US Covid hospitalizations last week
A judge has partially blocked Texas governor Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates after Harris county sued so it could adopt local mask rules to protect residents as Delta spreads.
The Harris county attorney said he was fighting to the “Governor’s overreach”:
We fought to stand up the Governor’s overreach. We still have a ways to go in this fight to keep people safe as the Delta variant spreads and schools open, but today is a good start. 2/2
While this decision is temporary, it’s a victory for residents in Harris County who are concerned about this public health crisis. We need every tool at our disposal to stop the spread of Covid-19, including masks and other measures that are proven to slow the spread.”
After a two hour hearing in Travis County, a judge has granted temporary restraining orders to Harris County and several South Texas school districts, allowing them to have mask mandates in defiance of an executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott that bans such mandates.
Just in: Galena Park ISD becomes the latest school district in the Houston region to require masks.
more background about districts’ plans following Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s order mandating masks in school —>https://t.co/w2sfLI5kDh https://t.co/S0eOlVm5Nb
Related: ‘I don’t see how it can be safe’: Florida schools on frontlines of state’s mask war
Related: Florida and Texas schools defy governors’ mask bans as cases soar