The governors of Texas and Mississippi have lifted mask mandates in their states and also allowed businesses to open at 100% capacity. ABC News. In Texas, Govenor Abbott said that state mandates are no longer needed due to vaccinations and recoveries. His order does offer an exception that would allow counties to bring back restrictions if hospitalization rates exceed 15% capacity for seven days. Mississippi also followed suit, with Governor Tate Reeves saying that it is justified by lower infection rates and higher rates of vaccination. National health authorities said it was too early to lift mandates.
My Comment:
A lot of people are praising Governors Abbott and Tate for this but I am not one of them. Though I do agree that this move is long overdue I don't think they should get too much credit for only doing this now. Florida opened awhile ago and other states, like South Dakota and Georgia, never really locked down long term.
Does that mean I hate masks and won't take precautions against the virus? Of course not. I wear a mask wherever it is required and I don't have a problem if people want me to wear a mask if I visit. I think it is mostly security theater but it might have some small effect. I've also avoided large gatherings of people, but that has more to do with my personality than anything else.
But what I have a problem with is the government telling everyone what to do. I think people should have the choice on what they want to do. I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with masks and others don't think the risk is worth it. And people should have the right to have their businesses open even if there is a risk.
I also don't think that lockdowns were ever the right answer. I do think that people should take precautions but I think the right answer was to protect the people that were most vulnerable. Keep people in old folks home safe and those with medical risks but let other people get sick. The vast majority of them would have been fine. Lockdowns probably didn't save any lives but it did massive damage to the economy.
A lot of people on Twitter are complaining about this but to them I would say this. If you really want to keep wearing a mask, nobody is going to stop you. If you don't want to go to a restaurant or bar, no one is going to force you to do so. Indeed, if you want to stay in your house for the rest of your life you can. That's fine but I think it's long past time that everyone else is allowed to live their lives as they please.
And with the vaccines out now there isn't much of a point in keeping restrictions. From what I can tell the most vulnerable people are pretty much vaccinated now. The three vaccines protect against the virus and even people that get it won't be seriously ill. The number of people that will die from the disease will now collapse so at this point it's not really a threat.
So will other states follow suit? I think red states might. But blue states? I have no idea. It seems a lot of these governors love the power that the virus gave them and aren't going to give it up easily. Thankfully the governors of California and New York are being recalled and are mired in scandal, so they may have no choice. But I worry about people like Michigan's Governor Whitmer and my state, Wisconsin, Governor Evers. Whitmer seems to have an absolute lust for this kind of power and I doubt she will give it up unless the Democrats change their tune on lockdowns...
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