Samuel Case, FISM News
Weeks ago Texas fully opened and ended the mask mandate, resulting in outrage and the prediction of a COVID apocalypse for the Lone Star State. Yet, despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth against Governor Greg Abott, and the CDC director prophesying “impending doom” for the country if it loosens restrictions, Texas seems to be doing just fine.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, as of this week the 7-day rolling average for cases in Texas is down 30.5% from the day Texas opened up. Similarly, hospitalization dropped 37.1% in the same time frame and, best of all, death rates are trending downwards as well. Texas saw approximately 228 daily deaths a month ago, that number has dropped to around 84.
It has now been 26 days since March 10th, when Texas "reopened 100%" with no statewide mask mandate; it has been 34 days since @GovAbbott announced the reopening.
So far, so good.
"Cases," positivity rate, hospital and ICU patients with COVID-19, and deaths are all down. pic.twitter.com/XDqRBjrK08
— Will Franklin (@WILLisms) April 5, 2021
Even Dr. Anthony Fauci is struggling to see a negative result. During an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Fauci was asked why Texas hasn’t seen a surge in cases. The doctor, who pushed lockdowns and masking throughout the pandemic, was at a loss for words saying, “I’m not really quite sure. It could be they’re doing things outdoors. It’s very difficult to just one-on-one compare that.”
Fauci then warned about a potential future spike in infections. “You just have to see in the long range. I hope they continue to tick down.” Fauci continued, “There’s always the concern that when you pull back on methods, particularly things like indoor dining and bars that are crowded, you can see a delay that all of a sudden tick right back up. We’ve been fooled before by situations where people begin to open up, nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, several weeks later, things start exploding on you. So we’ve gotta be careful we don’t prematurely judge that.”
Meanwhile Governor Abbott signed an executive order banning vaccine “passports,” making Texas the second state behind Florida to institute such a ban. The order says, “State agencies and political subdivisions shall not adopt or enforce any order, ordinance, policy, regulation, rule or similar measure that requires an individual to provide, as a condition or receiving any service or entering any place, documentation requiring the individual’s vaccination status for any COVID-19 vaccine administered under an emergency authorization.”