In a risky move, Texas Governor Greg Abbott made the announcement that all Texas businesses could reopen at full capacity, starting on Wednesday, March 10. In addition, Texans will no longer be required to wear face masks. Gov. Abbott revealed the information during a speech in Lubbock, Texas on Tuesday.
“Too many Texans have been sidelined from employment opportunities,” Gov. Abbott said. “Too many small business owners have struggled to pay their bills. This must end.”
Going forward, Abbott advises that Texans are to use commonsense to ensure their safety. Those measures would involve Texans continuing to enforce good hygiene practices, including sanitation and hand washing, along with distancing from others. Although Abbott is ending the statewide mandate, he is giving businesses the option to continue to require masks or operate at limited capacity.
Abbott decided to end the pandemic safety precautions due to the expedition of vaccinations to residents and less hospitalizations due to the virus. However, less than two million people in the state of Texas have received the vaccination. Public health officials have warned that it is too early to fully operate businesses and remove masks since most of the U.S. population has yet to be vaccinated.
Not surprisingly, many politicians and public health officers are against opening so soon. Some have even implied that the Abbott is proceeding with the opening to deflect from the winter storm disaster that Texas recently endured.
“If the last year has taught us anything, it is that we need to listen to doctors and scientists more, not less,” said Rep. Chris Turner (D-Grand Prairie). “Unfortunately, Governor Abbott is desperate to distract from his recent failures during the winter storm and is trying to change the subject.”
Since the pandemic, Texas has accumulated a total of 2,665,416 million cases (of those, 2,442,805 has recovered). Active cases include 178,433 people. The state has suffered 44,178 deaths — by the way, many deaths are now not being documented as Covid-19, especially for the elderly.
Instead, the deaths are being marked as natural causes or ailments — but, would these ailments have been a cause of death in normal circumstances? Or a better question, would people have suffered from these “ailments” at this very moment in life if it wasn’t for the pandemic? Can it be anymore apparent that the coronavirus attacks pre-existing conditions and causes the acceleration of illnesses that otherwise could have possibly been avoided?
Although Texas is being a martyr for the rest of the nation by testing the new normal, if anyone has family or roots in Texas it’s saddening that the people are the guinea pigs of this social experiment.
