Alamo Drafthouse Will Continue COVID-19 Safety Measures in Texas Despite State Reopening

The Texas-born movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse has announced that it will keep its COVID-19 safety measures in place, despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order lifting the mask mandate and reopening the state.

In a statement posted to its official Twitter account on Tuesday, Alamo Drafthouse reaffirmed its COVID-19 precautions and took a stance against Abbott.

“Alamo Drafthouse’s mandatory mask policy remains in place, as well as our 6′ social distancing protocols, and all of the other safety measures we’ve had in place across the country since last year,” the statement reads. “We are only following the guidance of the CDC and medical experts, not politicians. Right now, at what we hope is the beginning of the end of COVID, the health of our teams and our guests remains this company’s top priority.”

pic.twitter.com/6aCag2qoSE

— Alamo Drafthouse (@alamodrafthouse) March 3, 2021

Earlier on Tuesday, Abbott announced an executive order “to lift the mask mandate and open Texas to 100 percent.”

“Make no mistake, COVID-19 has not disappeared, but it is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations, and safe practices that Texans are using that state mandates are no longer needed,” Abbott said when announcing the order.

NEW: Issuing an executive order to lift the mask mandate and open Texas to 100 percent. pic.twitter.com/P4UywmWeuN

— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) March 2, 2021

According to the New York Times, the United States as a whole is still averaging more than 65,000 average cases per day and more than 2,000 deaths per day due to COVID-19.

The pandemic has been notoriously hard on movie theaters, with many of them — especially in large cities — only reopening recently. Though Alamo Drafthouse has 41 locations across the U.S., the majority of its cinemas are in the state of Texas.