Silent Abbott acting as if he doesn’t care
When a politician fails to use his platform to help his constituents, it is mute testament to his lack of leadership.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has remained silent in the midst of the latest COVID-19 health crisis — the rapid spread of the omicron variant.
When he has referenced vaccines — our strongest tool to protect against serious COVID-19 illness — it is usually to push back against mandates, focusing instead on “personal” responsibility. He ended the statewide mask mandate in May, a foolhardy move as the virus spreads across the state.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported more than 10,800 new cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, the highest daily number since October, and health experts say the omicron variant accounts for 90 percent of the new cases. The number of hospitalizations in Texas, 4,431 as of Tuesday, was also the highest since October.
“There is going to be a pretty impressive surge, and I think it could really pick up,” Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director at the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine, recently
told MSNBC.
Abbott, who recovered from the virus with the help of the vaccine, has not budged in the midst of this surge, only saying, “We’re moving forward with life as we know it.”
The trouble with that statement is that “life as we know it” has become a nightmare, with almost 75,000 Texans, as of Tuesday, dying of the disease since the pandemic struck, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
And it will get worse; the state health department shared an alarming warning Monday that five of its regional infusion centers, including the one in San Antonio, have run out of the only monoclonal antibody that is effective against the variant. The centers are expecting more antibody in January.
But Abbott didn’t bother to retweet the health department’s stunning message. He has been so intransigent that he would not even answer reporters who asked if he received a booster.
Instead of remaining silent, he should be encouraging Texans to get vaccinated, something even former President Donald Trump has been doing, although he got booed by some of his supporters in Dallas earlier this month.
Trump said it again in a Dec. 21 interview with the Daily Wire’s Candace Owens, calling the vaccine “one of the greatest achievements of mankind” and adding, “if you take the vaccine, you’re protected. The results of the vaccine are very good.”
Yet Abbott is silent, with only 61 percent of Texans 5 and older vaccinated, as of Tuesday.
Texas needs a leader who acts like they care about Texans’ health.