Hidalgo is right to make evidence-based decisions
The waiting is the hardest part, right? At least for those of us who are employed and not sick. We all want to know how long this pandemic will last and what comes next as we make impossible choices between physical and economic health. As we can see from this weekend’s crowds at the beach, filled-to-bursting restaurant parking lots and backyard parties popping up all over the county, many residents obviously trust and believe that it is safe to return to life as usual, perhaps with a few small tweaks.
But what exactly has changed since March that makes it safe? We are drowning in information and misinformation and need to know who to trust to accurately relay the information we need to make the safest decisions possible in the coming months when deciding whether to send our children back to day care, how to protect ourselves at work, whether and how to reopen our small businesses and restaurants, whether to let the grandparents come over to see their grandbabies, whether to even get a muchneeded haircut.
In Harris County, I feel very fortunate to have County Judge Lina Hidalgo fulfilling her campaign promises by relying on the best available scientific reasoning and data when making such difficult decisions around COVID-19. She has continuously relayed reliable data and her conclusions are sound, as evidenced by our current success at flattening the curve through social distancing. Ensuring we have adequate space should hospitalizations spike, advising the public to work from home if possible and to wear a mask when out in public have all been very welcome announcements in this house. Unfortunately, and despite instituting stay at home and mask orders very similar to others around the state, she is the only elected official who is so frequently undermined and receives such hateful blow back. She is often attacked for her age, her race and for being a woman. The reality is that leadership comes in many forms, and competent leadership, however that looks, is exactly what we need right now. As residents of the most diverse city in the country, most of us already know this to be true.
I understand wanting to get back to life as usual as soon as possible. I am as impatient as the next person. When I want to hang a picture, my approach is to eyeball it, fire a nail into the wall and then adjust if it is not centered. You can tell when I hang a piece because it looks like a woodpecker found a tasty snack in the wall behind it. My husband, a surgeon, takes his time and measures, gathers all the tools, and puts a single, perfectly placed nail into the wall. I will begrudgingly admit that we should all aspire to be more like my husband. Hidalgo is this way: calm, methodical and precise. She tunes out the noise from her critics. She gathers the experts, considers the data and makes evidence-based decisions that will ultimately leave fewer holes in our walls.
Non-essential workers continuing to stay home and all of us agreeing to wear masks when we do have to be in public will allow us to more safely open portions of our economy, while dramatically slowing the spread of the virus. Wearing a mask when you cannot ensure adequate distance is such a small consideration to make to save lives, but it will also help us get back to work and play sooner. If we are not careful and are lulled into a false sense of security due to our success so far, we will find ourselves in a depressing loop of open and closed, elation and anxiety, hope and despair. We will pay a far higher price.
There are many people who also feel this way, who live all over the county and are dismayed by the treatment Hidalgo has received. We are epidemiologists, small business owners, physicians, attorneys, community volunteers, mothers, grandmothers, corporate executives, engineers and we all love this city. I hope Houstonians and our other local elected officials can be objective, work together and support this county judge when she makes the precise, albeit difficult, decisions we elected her to make to keep our families safe.
I, for one, will #StayHome to protect my friend’s 4-year-old who just had a bone marrow transplant and cannot protect himself from this monster illness. I will #MaskUp for my mother, who retired after working as a nurse in the Texas Medical Center for decades and could be asked to return if COVID-19 overwhelms our systems as the virus continues its march through the population. We all have someone to protect.