Doors flung open
We don’t seem to be very good at learning, in the US. The fact that the number of new cases has fallen from a peak is not the same as PANDEMIC IS OVER EVERYONE JUMP INTO THE POOL AGAIN.
Public health experts encouraged Americans to continue social distancing and wearing masks at a potentially critical inflection point in the pandemic – one in which highly effective vaccines could provide relief, but
fervor[eagerness] to reopen public life could unintentionally spread new Covid-19 variants.The warnings come the same week Texas and Mississippi flung open the doors to normal social life in their states.
No doors should be flung open yet. Not even close.
Coronavirus cases have declined across much of the United States since mid-January, a point when the peak of the third wave saw upwards of 4,000 Covid-19 deaths a day. However, cases remain “extremely high” according to data watchers, and could plateau at a point equivalent to the peak of summer 2020.
See, the peak was very high, so cases can decline and still be too high.
On Wednesday, following a crippling winter ice storm Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, ended all pandemic restrictions and opened the state “100%”. The Republican governor of Mississippi soon followed suit, and lifted mask mandates on all activities except schools and large arenas.
…
The moves prompted immediate outcry. Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, called lifting pandemic restrictions a “systemwide state leadership failure”, while Joe Biden called the decision “Neanderthal thinking”.
Pause for explosions of wrath over “Neanderthal.” The Neanderthal Pride Association could not be reached for comment.
“After weeks of sub-zero temperatures, the mercury’s going to rise to 30 degrees Fahrenheit today. So put your bathing suits on and take a nice long swim in the lake!”
Or even more like “After weeks of sub-zero temperatures, the mercury’s going to rise to 05 degrees Fahrenheit today. So put your bathing suits on and take a nice long swim in the lake!”
Our state was flung open already. My part of the state was never closed. Red states are dangerous places to live.
As someone who lives in a country that sensibly uses Celsius, not Fahrenheit, both those figures are still below zero, ie, the freezing point of fresh water.
I have seen quite a few news stories and articles about Abbot, Texas & the other states that have, in iknklast’s words, been ‘flung open’. Not one has mentioned the dangers of this doing this to the populations of other states that haven’t been flung open. Have governors of other states spoken up against these Neanderthal policies? Not that I’m aware of. Why don’t they kick up a fuss?
On first reading I thought that the storm’s name was Greg Abbott, which came as some relief. I don’t like being on first name terms with storms I hardly know and would have liked to have referred to this one as Mr Abbott.