Unlike Harris County residents, Fort Bend County residents will not be required to wear face masks while in public, County Judge KP George said in an April 23 press release.

However, George still urged residents to wear them.

“While I am not issuing a specific order, I strongly recommend our residents wear masks in public to stop the spread of the virus, protect the most vulnerable in our community and reopen the economy,” George said in the release. “The quickest and easiest way we can prevent more people from getting sick and reopen business is for everyone to wear a cloth mask in public.”

All residents over age 2 are encouraged to wear a cloth mask while in public, according to updated guidance on the Fort Bend County Health and Human Services website.

Essential workers are especially advised to wear masks, and their employers should provide a mask or face covering, per the release and HHS website. The owner or operator of an essential business is allowed to refuse admission or service to a customer who is not wearing a mask.


“The change in guidance comes from new information from the health community seeing a significant percentage of individuals with the novel coronavirus are asymptomatic and unknowingly spreading the virus to other people,” the release states.

Click here to learn how to make a homemade face mask.

George’s guidelines follows Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s April 22 announcement that Harris County residents age 10 and older must wear a face mask in public beginning April 27.

Fort Bend County has a total of 889 confirmed positive coronavirus cases, less than half of the 2,284 confirmed positive coronavirus cases in Harris County outside the city of Houston, according to data available from the two counties as of 4:30 p.m. April 23.