New: @SylvesterTurner says Houston officials will start issuing citations to people who fail to comply with the state's mandatory mask order. First offense = warning, followed by a citation and $250 fine. #COVID19 #txlege

Turner: "For months, we have been focusing on education and not citations, but now I am instructing the Houston Police Department to issue the necessary warnings and citations to anyone not wearing a mask in public if they do not meet the criteria for an exemption.”

Turner was lauded by some who opposed @LinaHidalgoTX's mask order when he said HPD would not issue fines for that initial order > https://twitter.com/JoeGamaldi/status/1253688205322457088

Houston's 14-day average of the rate of people testing positive for #COVID19 has dropped to 17.6% as of July 31. Turner says that's "a good sign, but being at 17% is a long way from being at 5% or below," the goal of the city's new "Better Together" campaign.