He will take no responsibility at all.
With COVID-19 hospitalizations soaring past 5,000 statewide for the first time in nearly five months, state officials are stepping up vaccination outreach programs and promotional campaigns but Gov. Greg Abbott insists that the state won’t impose any new mandates on Texans.
State officials announced Wednesday that Texas has 5,292 people hospitalized with lab-confirmed COVID-19 — the highest number since March 2, the day Abbott announced he was ending all state mask mandates and restrictions on businesses.
At that time, Abbott called for “personal diligence” and said statewide mandates are no longer needed.
Though 10,000 new COVID infections were reported statewide on Wednesday, the most since February, he has not changed his messaging.
“The time for government mask mandates is over — now is the time for personal responsibility,” Abbott wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “Every Texan has the right to choose whether they will wear a mask or have their children wear masks.”
His latest comments came as the president of the Texas State Teachers Association publicly called on Abbott to allow schools to require masks, particularly since vaccines have not been approved for children under 12.
“If Gov. Abbott really cares about the health and safety of Texas students, educators and their communities, he will give local school officials and health experts the option of requiring masks in their schools,” Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina said on Tuesday.
I mean, I think we know the answer to that hypothetical.
Meanwhile, statewide hospitalizations from the virus have doubled in the last two weeks and more than tripled since the start of July, when Abbott re-issued a disaster declaration to deal with COVID-19.
“COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising and new variants of the virus are spreading quickly in our communities,” said Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services in a statement Wednesday.
While Texas still appears to have more 9,100 available hospital beds statewide, there are areas around Beaumont, College Station and Killeen reporting that few intensive care beds are available for additional chronic patients.
The College Station region reported no more available ICU beds on Wednesday and Laredo officials were down to just 1 available ICU bed.
Killeen is a city in Bell County, which has one of the worst vaccination rates in the state, according to state data. Just 33.5 percent of that county’s population over 12 years of age have been fully vaccinated compared to over 54 percent in Harris County and 56 percent in Bexar.
“It is clear that increasing vaccinations is still our best strategy to navigate through this pandemic and get to closure,” Bell County Judge David Blackburn said in a recent news release.
Statewide, just 52 percent of Texans 12 and older have been vaccinated.
Here’s the Thursday update.
Across Texas, 5,662 people were hospitalized for the virus as of Thursday, the highest number recorded by DSHS since Feb. 28 and a massive increase since its low point of 1,428 on June 27.
It’s bad, y’all. And it’s getting worse. There’s a bit of a vaccination push now, but as you know it takes time to get fully protected, and we don’t have any. Abbott’s lifting of the mask mandate when he did was premature, and his mulish resistance to any possible leeway for local officials is harmful in the extreme, but let’s be clear that his biggest sin is not doing everything he could to get more Texans vaccinated. Masks at least would do something now, and even if it is too late for this surge to ramp up vaccinations, that’s still by far the best thing to do. So what is Abbott doing?
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BREAKING: @GregAbbott_TX’s latest executive order outlaws vaccine requirements from governments or entities receiving state funds.ALSO it seems to remove local officials’ ability to impose restrictions if hospitalizations go above 15% of capacity.
— Matt Largey (@mattlargey) 3:47 PM – 29 July 2021
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New @GovAbbott order REMOVES 15% hospitalization threshold allowing local officials to set capacity limitsCoincidentally…today Galveston hit that 15% mark, first region to do so since his order
Also as of TODAY hospitalizations are higher than the day he removed mask mandate
— William Joy (@WilliamJoy) 4:17 PM – 29 July 2021
Vaccinations > masks, but thanks to Abbott’s utter lack of leadership, we have neither. And so thousands more people are getting sick, and some number of them – more than it should be – will end up in the hospital or a grave. And all of that is on Greg Abbott.
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Will Greg Abbott blame me if I steal a loaf of bread? Thanks to his inflation, I can’t afford nothing anymore. A watermelon is like $15.00.
I am also fact checking this post. It says vaccinations > masks, but I have a document of Dr. Redfield of the CDC saying that we have something better than vaccines right now. We have masks! That is an expert telling us that masks are better.
For what it’s worth, I was at Aldi’s yesterday and the watermelons were, I think, $ 5 each, and they were medium size. I thought about getting one, but decided against it. I’ve got 3 growing in a small patch in the back yard that should be ready in a couple of weeks.
Eggs, on the other hand, are literally 50% higher than they were a few weeks ago, and I’m noting that many of the staple items I buy are creeping up in price, things that have been stable in price for years.
Inflation is a real thing, it’s bad, and at some point we have to consider that the actions of government have contributed to it, including the profligate deficit spending by Trump, and the sustained paying of Americans NOT to work. For people who have been on paid vacation for a year or more, I really don’t care if the job offered is beneath you. I was working while you were on the sofa playing with your Xbox for a year. Cut those people off and make them go to work.
H20 MELON INFLATION
Consumer price inflation is regressive in its effecs, i.e. it mostly hurts the poor, and more badly in terms of its impact on quality of life and quality of living.
Inflation, within bounds, is not necessarily a bad thing from a macro-economic perspective, however. It indicated that demand is brisk, and provides incentives for more production, i.e. growth. And right now we have the phenomenon of pent-up demand due to last year’s COVID slowdown. Many people who worked from home spent less, saved more, and now have more opportunity to spend the accumulated surplus. So, no surprise if inflation is up even while other who were laid off struggle financially.
Also … funny how no one is complaining about “inflation” when the stock market booms. At least in part we had an inflation in the value of financial assets because people with good white-collar jobs and incomes sat home and spent less of the discretionary portion of their income. Why not buy stock rather than let the surplus cash sit in a bank account with close to zero interest if any?
If you cut the income of the lower strata, they won’t have money to buy consumer durables, or even necessaries, and the economy might tank.
At the individual level — which is all that some folks here care about while purporting to make a useful contribution to policy debates — rising cost in some food items can be addressed by switching to unaffected products, or buying in bulk.
Get a melon if the watermelon price currently doesn’t suit you. The main ingredient is water, and you got that on tap. Or haul home a 2-pound bag of carrots. The carotene will do you good, if not wonders. Not to mention that price fluctuations in particular fresh-food items are nothing new. Take limes or avocados for example, or miscellaneous South-of-the-Intermittant-Trump-Abbott-Wall agricultural items. Sometimes you can get 10-15 limes for a buck at Fiesta. Other times not. But there are alternative sources of vitamin C and stuff that’s sour.
I can’t think of a bigger numbnut running a State Government that this clown. Even the Governor of AL made it known that her unvaccinated constituents were resulting in her State’s failure to get the virus under control. Pretty sad when you get bested by Alabama.
The inflation was a plot to help Jeff Bezos get to space by taking the money from everyone of lesser stature.
The CDC just came out with its study that 75% of the Cases from the Cape Cod Super Spreader gathering were fully vaccinated.
It is time to make it known that getting vaccinated is not so beneficial. Wear your mask. Wash your hands.
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/07/30/coronavirus-delta-variant-fully-vaccinated-cdc/5941627661807/
So, Jason, why did you get vaccinated?
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