Greg Abbott's executive order barring mask and vaccine mandates, setting the stage for legal showdowns over coronavirus safety measures just as cases are surging in Texas and hospitals are filling up. El Paso officials wrote to Abbott this week urging him to give school districts a choice in whether to require masks or not. The University of Texas Medical Branch would want to require vaccination of its frontline clinical staff and requested an exemption, but was told to abide by the governor's order, according to Dr. Janak A. Patel, director of the Department of Infection Control & Healthcare Epidemiology.