When Texas began to re-open the state, many experts said “this is too soon”. This made no impact on the government here, which is solid GOP, and for whom listening to experts is one of those activities that they despise. What, listen to dudes in white coats who use words with multiple syllables? No way.
So, the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor have been walking around making all of the right noises, while failing to make rules that can be enforced. So they try to face both ways on mask wearing, saying it is beneficial, but refusing to mandate it. Some counties (like my own Dallas County) have mandated wearing masks in public, but even that carries political risks, with the adolescent pseudo-libertarians up in arms (some might want to do that literally, judging by their online smack-talking).
The result was inevitable. The Covid-19 case count is exploding in key areas. Like in my own county, Dallas. When I went out at the weekend, the roads and stores were full. Everybody was marching around like it was a normal Summer saturday. Some people, despite the rules, were not wearing masks. (Jesus Christ on a pogo stick).
So this is what happens when you try to open a state too soon in a pandemic with insufficient focus on safety and social responsibility.
