We Are Entering Another COVID-19 Surge

Numbers do not lie. There is an uptick in COVID-19 cases around the country. While Houston was able to get its positivity rate to 5% thanks to a mix of local policy and cooperative residents who social distanced and masked up and stayed home and tested, Trump and Greg Abbott’s race to re-open the country is already starting to turn back any gains that have been made.

As I’ve stated from early on, the people will follow their leaders if it means they are told that there is no threat, and Trump playing down COVID-19 despite his own infection, and Greg Abbott’s re-opening policies are telling people to not worry about COVID-19.

Thus, all one has to look at are photos on social media of people returning to restaurants with increased capacity, nightclubs and concert attendance surging, and family gatherings, weddings, and events on the increase, as well as the daily superspread that occurs with local football/volleyball games and school attendance, and we should not be surprised that we are entering another surge. Add to that the continued irresponsibility of not having a mask mandate at the state and federal level and it is obvious that Republican inaction on COVID-19 isn’t about incompetence, but about indifference regarding your sickness and death.

The big news this morning is that COVID-19 positive individuals on two Houston school campuses have already closed them down after one day back. It has even happened in the smallest towns in South Texas. Students, teachers, and family need consistency, and closing down one day after re-opening because of COVID-19 exposure does not provide that consistency.

We cannot stop idiotic republicans from forcing a re-opening of schools, activities, and business, but we can at least show some effort by requiring masks and physical distancing policies if people feel the need to risk themselves and others. Not suggestions, but actual mandates with consenquences. I don’t want others’ idiocy to be the cause of death for myself or people I love.

Those of us who are being responsible by wearing masks at stores, activities, and even at work should not be put at risk by republican policies of indifference.

And, remember, there is an election going on. VOTE! Mask up, follow the distancing rules, sanitize your hands, and show up to vote. It’s the only way we get leaders responsible enough to do the right thing.