US Cases: 2,727,628
US Deaths: 121,487
Worldwide Cases: 10,815,117
Worldwide Deaths: 519,575
Better late than never? An acolyte in the #TrumpDeathCult finally woke up to reality:
In a major reversal, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued a statewide rule Thursday requiring masks to be worn in public, but only after the dramatic COVID-19 spike in the state.Abbott has long resisted taking the kinds of strong public health measures that other COVID-ravaged states have implemented to combat the virus. While he hasn’t been as extreme as some other Republican governors in dismissing the threat of COVID-19 and resisting mitigation strategies, Abbott has until the last few days toed the GOP line that reopening the economy is the top priority.Then the case counts in Texas began to skyrocket, especially since the Memorial Day reopening.
How many lives could have been saved if Abbott considered science when making his decisions, or if he didn't feel duty-bound to model his policy in the mold of a historically corrupt and incompetent president? At a minimum, Abbott could have given cities the ability to implement their own mandates, but until today, he prohibited it.
As always, the bottom line is that Republican governance means corruption, incompetence and death.
On a personal note (I haven't had one of those in a while, have I?), I'm currently writing this from North Carolina, which isn't exactly a hotspot for the virus, but apparently new cases are up 10% over last week. I'm here with my kids, visiting my parents --- partly because my parents haven't seen their grandkids in roughly a year, and partly to pick up my mom's car and drive it back to Minnesota for my daughter to use. I think if only one of those two facts were true, we would have stayed put.
But traveling during a pandemic is certainly an adventure. All of our meals so far have been takeout, except for tonight when we dined outdoors. And my kids and I are all wearing masks whenever we go indoors somewhere; I brought laundry detergent and hand-wash them every night.
My parents live in a retirement community, and they are rightly screening and limiting guests onto the property. We did go for a brief visit tonight (we arrived 20 minutes before visiting hours ended), and it was an experience. At the gate, we had to state our names and answer a bunch of health questions. I thought it was particularly interesting that they asked whether we had been to New York (or on a cruise), or had a guest in our home who had been to New York (or on a cruise).
I understand why they're asking the question, since New York was the first big hot spot in the country. But it's currently one of only 10 states where the number of new cases is actually dropping (those states, in order of largest percent decrease to smallest, are Rhode Island (-25), Arkansas (-10), Mississippi (-8), New York (-6), New Hampshire (-6), Michigan (-5), Maryland (-5), Virginia (-3), Kentucky (-2), Massachusetts (-2)).
At this point, I'm actually more concerned that the kids will get in a wreck driving home than I am about the virus.
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