We’re on our own now, Texans
Abbott’s rollback of pandemic restrictions means it’s on each of us to save one another.
We’re on our own now, Texans. Any sense of relative safety we may have felt last week in Texas’ public spaces and many private businesses will be gone this week.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to rescind his statewide mask mandate, starting Wednesday, has robbed Texans of a thin layer of security, robbed businesses and local leaders of a tool to maintain compliance, and will almost certainly rob some Texans of their lives.
In rolling back pandemic restrictions and scrapping his order requiring Texans to use the simple, cheap, painless masks to stop COVID’s spread, Abbott knew very well he was thwarting scientific consensus and ignoring the pleas of the medical community. There’s a reason he didn’t consult three of his four medical advisers. He knew what they’d say.
“I don’t think this is the right time,” Abbott adviser Dr. Mark McClellan, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said after the governor’s announcement.
Abbott should reverse course as soon as possible — but because that’s unlikely, Texans and Texas business owners must respond with common sense, personal responsibility and at least a trace amount of compassion for the vulnerable.
We must be even more vigilant about wearing masks and social distancing and demand vigilance of those around us. We should avoid gatherings, but if we attend, be the lone voice to ask: “hey, where’s your mask?” Being labeled a killjoy is a small price to pay for protecting life.
We should check the door before entering our favorite restaurants, shops and grocery stores to see if masks are required and if not, either register disapproval with the manager — or with our feet. Consider online-only ordering and curbside pickup.
We should actively seek out and support businesses sticking with their own mask requirements against harsh criticism, including Picos restaurant in Upper Kirby whose co-owner Monica Richards reports “horrific” threats and angry calls. See HoustonChronicle.com for a list of businesses still requiring masks.
And whether you’re a parent with school-aged kids or a college student angling for a wild beach party, consider a staycation for spring break. State Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, has a message we’re glad to repeat: Our front-line workers, especially the hospital heroes who have risked so much to keep so many alive, deserve their own break this spring. Actually, they should all get an all-expense paid trip to a remote tropical island where no one has heard of COVID. But barring that, let’s stay home and save them the exhaustion of another surge in cases.
Come Wednesday, Texans will be forced to grapple with a sudden hodgepodge of mask policies, schools reassuring parents of mask requirements and businesses forced to choose anew between the path of safety and the path of least resistance.
Some Texans who weren’t keen on masks anyway may read Abbott’s decision as license to rip them off and kick up their heels, cheering “Yee-haw! Mission accomplished.”
This is far from over. Infections are rising and vaccinations still lag in Texas, which is nearing 45,000 COVID-19 deaths. The medical community is already bracing for another possible spike following the winter storm that caused some Texans to find shelter in other homes.
Abbott has justified his orders by claiming that Texans have “mastered” protective measures so well they don’t need a state requirement.
The idea that Texans are suddenly masters of scientifically based safety protocols is laughable to anybody who has watched the State Board of Education debate evolution curriculum. Just consider the company we’re keeping with this decision to roll back pandemic restrictions: the state of Mississippi. Even Alabama’s Republican governor announced last week he is keeping the mask mandate, for one simple reason: It’s working.
If you believe enough Texans will wear a mask without a state order, you haven’t seen the hundreds protesting near the Governor’s Mansion, demanding to be liberated of business closures and freedom-hating N95s. You may not have heard about the violent altercations, including one in December in which an employee at the Grand Prize Bar in the Museum District required 10 stitches after being assaulted with a glass for asking an anti-masker repeatedly to cover up. Perhaps you haven’t traveled through East Texas and stopped at one gas station after another to find no one — customers or staff — wearing a mask. When one clerk in Goodrich, out in Polk County, was asked why not by a member of this editorial board recently, the response came: The governor’s order? Never heard of that.
Another clerk’s response at different location: Oh yeah, that. Our sheriff told us he wasn’t going to enforce that.
Is that just proof the governor’s order wasn’t doing much good anyway? No. It’s proof that Abbott didn’t try hard enough to enforce it.
Try for one moment to stand in the shoes of a grocery store employee tasked with monitoring mask compliance of someone making a beeline for the toilet paper aisle.
At H-E-B, attempts to encourage mask-wearing led to 2,000 incidents in the past year where management had to intervene in its Houston division alone, company officials say. And that was with a state-supported mandate.
Such conflicts led H-E-B to its disappointing decision last week to keep its current policy of encouraging, but not requiring, customers to wear masks even after Abbott’s rollback of restrictions. H-E-B President Scott McClelland explained that if a customer refuses, he will not ask his staff to escalate: “I've got to ensure for the physical safety of both my employees and customers.”
H-E-B should reconsider, and quickly. All their major competitors, faced with the same pressures, have made the right call in requiring masks: Kroger, Walmart, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Randalls, Aldi, Target, Fiesta and Costco.
H-E-B holds special status in Texas, and special responsibility. The homegrown grocer is a strong corporate citizen, and has earned so much goodwill among Texans for its hurricane relief and other efforts that some jokingly refer to it as “Texas’ fourth branch of government.” H-E-B shouldn’t risk that reputation now by exposing employees and customers to greater risk of infection. It should fill the leadership gap left by the governor’s void.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has backed up businesses that require masks in the absence of a state order, explaining that private businesses can still require face coverings and customers who refuse to comply could face criminal trespassing charges. But having customers arrested is nobody’s idea of customer service.
Businesses wouldn’t be in that rotten predicament if Abbott had done his job.
None of this has to be forever. Vaccine distribution is growing in Texas, albeit slowly.
Just hang on a bit longer, Texans. God will save Texas from this deadly disease, but there’s a fight ahead and our governor just deserted.
So the Lord needs some reinforcements. Keep your distance, get vaccinated and don’t forget your armor: that simple but potentially lifesaving face mask.