‘Personal responsibility’ is not for all
How can Abbott protect Texas residents from COVID-19 when he can’t protect himself ?
Personal responsibility, apparently, is for the little people.
The powerful have Regeneron cocktails at the ready.
The powerful have good health insurance and doctors who make house calls.
The powerful can quarantine in the comforts of a taxpayer-funded mansion in downtown Austin.
That’s one takeaway from the announcement Tuesday that Gov. Greg Abbott has COVID-19 — the very day after he tweeted about his appearance at “another standing room only event in Collin County” attended by an estimated 600 people. The tweet included photos of the event in which the maskless governor waves from a stage, facing a tight crowd of applauding supporters — nary a mask in sight.
How can we trust the governor to protect Texas from this raging pandemic when he won’t even protect himself — or, for that matter, his supporters?
We wish the governor a speedy recovery, which is highly likely given that he is fully vaccinated and was reportedly experiencing no symptoms — yet another reminder how even though breakthrough infections occur, they rarely involve severe illness, prolonged hospital stays or death.
The bigger concern is whether Abbott exposed any of his unvaccinated supporters in one of his many campaign events, where photos have shown him rubbing elbows without a mask in large indoor gatherings, at times in up-close-and-personal conversation, at times squeezing in for photos or sharing a laugh under a crowded tent.
What happened to the governor’s March speech, where he announced that Texans had “mastered” the safety protocols such as masks and distancing that can stop the spread of COVID? What happened to the worn-out phrase he regurgitates every time he defends his callous ban on local mask requirements: “We’re past the time of government mandates, we’re into the time of personal responsibility.”
If a man elected to lead nearly 30 million Texans can’t be trusted to act responsibly, how can he effectively persuade others?
We’re not just talking about the upperincome folks who attend Republican gubernatorial fundraisers.
We’re talking about the millions of children returning to school who can’t be vaccinated. We’re talking about the rural Texans who must travel an hour to a hospital, only to find there are no beds available. We’re talking about the multitudes of Texans who have no health insurance and no relationship with a trusted doctor who can inform them about vaccines.
Texans are watching you, governor. What are you showing them?
Not a champion of personal freedom. Only a mascot of incompetence.
An elected chief executive who is now contagious and home-bound because he refused to follow his own advice to the little people.
A governor who not only refuses to lead an effective campaign urging Texans to protect themselves and their communities, but actively threatens to punish and sue local leaders who try to impose safety requirements such as mask-wearing.
Sure, many Republicans had a great deal of fun chiding the COVID cases among Democrats who flew on a chartered plane without masks to D.C. in early June. They should have worn masks. But their indiscretion came at a time when many Texans were happily tossing our masks after becoming fully vaccinated.
We had done our part — or so we thought. We didn’t account for the new, more contagious delta variant and the millions of fellow Texans who did not get the jab, and still won’t wear so much as a mask to stop the spread. We didn’t account for a governor who condones their irresponsible conduct with his own.
Abbott’s carefree maskless outings come as Texas is experiencing what health experts call the worst surge of the pandemic.
Across Texas, more than 11,700 are hospitalized for COVID. Rural hospitals are turning away patients — COVID and non-COVID — and trying to fly critical ones out of state for care, watching some die in the process.
In Harris County, the largest contiguous medical center in the world is spilling over with the highest number of COVID patients ever admitted. Local officials say several hundred can’t even get in the door.
Houston has reached the grim milestone of more than 3,000 COVID deaths and officials announced Tuesday that 1 in every 5 Houstonians getting tested is positive.
The state’s response has been too little too late. While the health department recently announced it was opening nine infusion centers for Texans to receive Regeneron’s experimental monoclonal antibody treatment that can help mild cases avoid hospitalization, NBC News reported on Monday that Texas had also requested five mortuary trailers from the federal government in anticipation of an influx of dead bodies.
Abbott likes to say, in another context, “the most precious freedom is life itself.” We agree. More than 54,000 Texans have lost theirs now — some because they believed vaccine conspiracies and some because they believed political leaders who claim a face mask is more tyrannical than a deadly infectious disease.
The governor is reportedly feeling fine, self-isolating and receiving the Regeneron treatment as a precaution.
He seems to be in good hands. If only we could say the same for Texas.