Greg Abbott has Texas in a total nosedive
Two Republican governors in this country continue to skew the narrative surrounding Covid-19. They have done nothing to protect their citizens from the virus and, in fact, appear to be helping the spread by refusing mask mandates and failing to encourage vaccinations. Do they think this thing is going to “magically disappear?” Warm weather obviously has no bearing on Covid; the only thing that does is getting vaccinated. Even with breakthrough infections, the vaccinated do not get as sick as the nonvaccinated and rarely require hospitalization. That means that areas that have high numbers of hospitalizations are areas in which people have resisted the vaccine and/or masks. Such is the case with Texas. After all his bravado about masks, Greg Abbott is now trying to find help for his overwhelmed healthcare workers Salon reported.
Abbott has asked hospitals to “voluntarily postpone elective medical procedures” to make room for Covid patients and reached out to find medical help for the overwhelmed staff. He has also expanded vaccine availability, which is akin to closing the barn door after the horses got out. As is typical for an idiot like Abbott, he claims that he is “taking action” when he should have acted long before now. Hospitalizations in Texas have increased by 100% over the past two weeks, and the state is averaging 12,000 new cases per day. Given those numbers and the fact that only 44% of Texans are vaccinated, Abbott has clearly failed in his duties. In the face of these numbers, one might think Abbott would reverse his stance on mask mandates and social distancing. Please. That would take someone with sense, which brings us to the people who run the school districts in Texas.
The school districts in major Texas cities are defying Abbott. Both Dallas and Austin have required that all staff and students wear masks, and Houston is merely awaiting board approval to mandate masks in their district. Abbott has threatened them with $1,000 fines. As bad as Covid is in Texas this makes no sense whatsoever. The school boards are simply trying to protect students and staff and their families from contracting Covid. In seeming solidarity with the school districts, Salon reported that the Southern Center for Child Advocacy filed a lawsuit to block Abbott’s executive order prohibiting masks for children, stating that Abbott is putting children at risk and pointing out that in the end, Abbott’s order could cause school closures and cost “untold sums” to taxpayers. Why is it that everyone else sees the recklessness of Abbott’s behavior? Is he so stuck on his Republican talking points that he cannot see the danger, or does he just not care?
The Republicans we are now seeing in power are dangerous. They care nothing for the people they claim to represent, reinforcing that they are in office for power and not to serve. Even when they are wrong—and know they are wrong—they stick to their erroneous guns. They are a danger to us all.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years