The United States recorded nearly 190,000 new coronavirus infections Thursday and over 1,200 deaths. In Illinois, Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker has reinstated an indoor mask mandate for all residents, regardless of their vaccination status. In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has signed an executive order banning all government mandates on COVID-19 vaccines — even the Pfizer BioNTech shot, which was granted full FDA approval this week. Governor Abbott’s order came as Texas hospitalizations approached their highest levels of the pandemic, with half of all ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.