BEAUMONT, Texas — There are some exceptions in Gov. Greg Abbott's face coverings order.
The CDC said face coverings are an extra layer of protection when social distancing is hard to maintain.
During Tuesday's Beaumont City Council meeting, tensions mounted as Mayor Becky Ames addressed councilman W.L. Pate for not wearing a face covering.
"Councilman, with all due respect, you're sitting beside me and you don't know if you have COVID or not," Ames said in the meeting.
"As a matter of fact, I just took a test today and I'm glad you said that because I'm negative," Pate responded.
Councilman Pate did not respond to 12News' request for comment, but during the meeting, he made it clear that he was well within health and safety guidelines.
"I wasn't gonna say anything, I can't help it, it just makes me upset because I think it's hypocritical," Ames said.
Mayor Ames said the situation was a difference of interpretation about Gov. Abbott's order.
"I think that everyone in here should be wearing a mask, I'm sorry," Ames said.
"We're six feet apart, that's social distancing," Pate said.
The CDC recommends people over the age of two wear a face covering in public settings, when social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
At every meeting, councilmembers sit at at every other chair apart, leaving some distance in between.
Minutes before the dispute, Ames addressed the public without a mask.
"It's even more important now that we embrace the guidance of our medical professionals, our physicians, and those who treat these patients by wearing a face covering, that I did have on, I had to talk," Ames said.
In Gov. Abbott's order, one of the face covering exceptions includes "any person while the person is giving a speech for a broadcast or to an audience."
Mayor Ames told 12News,"I believe it would be acceptable for councilmembers even to remove it when speaking, but not to not wear one at all."