He’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.
It’s a tough time in the Lone Star State. Governor Abbott is making some hard decisions in order to manage the spike in new cases of the coronavirus in Texas. Whether we like it or not doesn’t matter at this point – the governor has to keep public safety foremost in his decision-making process and that means Texans have to step it up in their mitigation efforts. The virus isn’t done with us yet.
Up until the past week or so, things were going pretty well in Texas. Increased testing, increased hospitalizations, and younger, healthy people becoming infected have changed the matter. Fortunately, though there is an increase in positivity, there is not an increase in deaths from the virus. That’s good news. The bad news is that though Texans did what the experts told us to do in the beginning – stay home as much as you can, wear a mask in public, social distance, avoid large gatherings, and wash your hands – and the numbers showed that it worked, the re-opening of the state has lessened the feelings of urgency to continue those guidelines. Texas has a much lower death rate than other states from the pandemic. However, as predicted, as the state has opened back up, the cases have increased. Now the governor has to find the magic spot of balancing business concerns and the state economy with the health of its residents.
The writing was on the wall, frankly. After warning Texas residents, he pulled the trigger on re-closing businesses Friday. The state is going to have to shut down again to get a handle on the coronavirus hotspots. Today the governor closed all the bars, effective at noon, in the state. Restaurants will have to fall back into Stage 2 position with only allowing 50% capacity for inside dining. And he is cracking down on large gatherings.
