Texas is suspending enforcement of Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on mask mandates in public schools as it deals with legal challenges

• Texas will temporarily stop enforcing the governor's ban on mask mandates in public schools.
• The Texas Education Agency and the state's supreme court said schools can require masks for now.
• Parents, local governments, and school boards have brought lawsuits against the mask-mandate ban.

Texas' education agency said it has temporarily stopped enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on mask mandates, and the state Supreme Court said schools can temporarily allow school districts to make students wear masks.

The Texas Education Agency said on Thursday that it was doing this due to lawsuits against it.

And the Texas Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that schools can continue requiring masks for now, the Associated Press reported.

Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have surged in Texas, but Abbott, a Republican, has kept a ban on mandatory masking.

Parents, local governments, and school boards have brought legal challenges against the ban, the AP reported.

Seven counties and 48 school districts across Texas have also implemented mask mandates in spite of the governor's ban, according to the AP.