Tuesday, the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott issued an executive order during a Lubbock Chamber of Commerce event which abolished a mask-wearing mandate in the conservative state and allowed businesses to reopen at 100 percent capacity despite warnings from health experts to ease the set COVID-19-related health protocols.

The order is set to allow businesses to reoperate at 100 percent March 10.

"Too many Texans have been sidelined from employment opportunities. Too many small business owners have struggled to pay their bills. This must end. It is now time to open Texas 100%," said Abbott.

I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%.

EVERYTHING.

I also ended the statewide mask mandate.

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 2, 2021

In similar a move, Mississippi's Governor Tate Reeves also announced Tuesday a decision to abolish all county mask mandates, while reopening establishments at 100 percent capacity.

The decision will go into effect starting Wednesday.

In tweets, Reeves said that case numbers are severely dropping and the vaccine is being "rapidly distributed."

Starting tomorrow, we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules. Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!

— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) March 2, 2021

Abbott's decisions came as virus cases and hospitalizations continued to drop across the state. Texans have "mastered the daily habits to avoid getting COVID," he said. 

Additionally, Abbott said that 5.7 million vaccine jabs have been administered in the state, and that there is a surplus of protective equipment such as face masks and "10 million Texans have recovered from COVID."

5.7 million equates to about 20 percent of the population. 

Johns Hopkins stated that around 6.57 percent of Texans have been fully vaccinated.

However, health experts stressed that relaxing restrictions could lead to another surge, especially with the mutated variants spreading. In a statement Tuesday, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said she disagreed with the Abbott's decision.

"Taking away critical public health interventions" that are working won't make Texas communities safer or speed up the return to normalcy, she said, adding that every time health measures are relaxed, there was a spike in hospitalizations.

Now is not the time to reverse the gains, Hildago said, adding that the country is "inching closer to the finish line of this pandemic."

At best, this is wishful thinking, that COVID is somehow less dangerous than it was yesterday. At worst, it is a cynical attempt to distract Texans from the failures of state oversight of our power grid.https://t.co/w5C0GW9u7p

— Lina Hidalgo (@LinaHidalgoTX) March 2, 2021