Failure to lead

The good news is that scientists and health professionals continue to make progress in defeating COVID-19 and hopefully its variants by creating vaccines that help to prevent its spread. The bad news is that a substantial fraction of the U.S. population prefers to believe politicians

rather than health professionals. This includes anti-vaxxers and people who disregard CDC social recommendations — unfortunately, there is no vaccine to prevent stupidity. Opening up of the second-most populous state in the U.S. could lead to thousands of additional COVID-19 deaths, as did the previous administration’s 2020 downplaying of the pandemic. Although hurt, many businesses will recover — a half-million deceased victims will not.

Robert Nielsen, Montgomery

It seems to me Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to open Texas 100 percent while we still are experiencing a pandemic is equivalent to Ted Cruz’s Cancun trip — abandoning Texans to fend for themselves. God help Texas, because her elected officials sure aren’t.

Janet Pozmantier, Houston

If Gov. Greg Abbott’s dropping of mask requirements and business restrictions is an attempt to get us to quit talking about what a terrible job he did in the weather emergency, he has succeeded. Now we are talking about what a terrible job he is doing in the COVID emergency.

Anita W Darras, Houston

In my county, there are only 6 percent of fully vaccinated people, and now we are going to have to see maskless people shopping around us who are probably not vaccinated. Wearing a mask is a small thing with a big payoff. If you want to open all businesses, at least keep the mask mandate. I can promise you this, any store that does not require their customers to wear masks will not get my business. H-E-B, I’m looking at you.

Susan Chidlow, Leander