Finally, Texas Governor Abbott admitted that we still have a serious problem. He's saying home is the safest place to be, so maybe there is hope for us having online school again in the fall to protect students; that's my own though though, as I don't think he has said anything about schools today.
 |
| From The Dallas Morning News |
Is Abbott trying to sound like a threatening parent? "If you kids don't start behaving, then I'll have to tell your daddy when he gets home!" It's ridiculous to me; people should understand the science and want to stay home or use proper protections when they are out, though only for necessary tasks. Also, he should have taken a stronger stance as a leader and mandated face masks across the state once we started re-opening. Not that we needed to re-open, especially that quickly. In fact, he directly contradicted his own release, as well as the national and CDC guidelines with how quickly he re-opened Texas.
Let me lay it out once again...
EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU LEAVE YOUR HOME YOU RISK:
(1) getting horribly sick;
(2) suffering long-term medical issues;
(3) ending up with massive medical bills; and
(4) dying!
The risks should mean that you only leave home when absolutely necessary. When you do leave, you should wear a face mask and gloves. You should consider "cross-contamination" with what you touch - just like a chef getting yelled at by Jon Taffer in an episode of BAR RESCUE. Just like you shouldn't touch raw chicken and then touch other food without changing gloves or washing your hands, you need to swap gloves or wash your hands with soap for at least 30 seconds after every encounter.
Instead of going grocery shopping, you should be using delivery services or curbside pickup with face masks and gloves in use. Be creative if necessary, but don't practice "business as normal" the way things used to be. The world has changed. Accept that. Change. The medical science isn't 100% clear, but we know enough to know that we should be using best practices as much as possible.
Remember my posts about doublethink and doubletalk? Trump, of course, continues with his deceptive rhetorical tactics. He said at his campaign rally in Oklahoma that he wanted less testing, with the logic(al fallacy) being that less testing means the numbers are lower and that makes him look good. His campaign and the White House staff immediately tried to offer the defense that his statements to that effect were a joke. But Trump came out the next day and insisted he wasn't "kidding" about testing numbers. With this doubletalk, the people who support him get to say it's a joke and the people opposing him get to point out that he's serious. What a mangled postmodern reality we live in.
Why is this a problem? He really is going to have less testing. News reports today indicated the federal funding for the public testing sites for the coronavirus was going away and thus they are going to shut down. That means only people with money and/or insurance will be able to get tested through private facilities. Once again, the poor and uninsured will suffer. We will see it locally and across the nation. No funding means no testing, which means the numbers could look like they are going down again. But it's all a lie. People will still be sick and dying.
Luckily, at the congressional hearings today, the medical personal were willing to testify in opposition to Trump's words. Dr. Fauci pointed out that, with this "surge" continuing, we need to get the numbers down.
Well, it looks like "the woods are burning" as Willy Loman declared in the play Death of a Salesman.
Be safe out there (and I'll be safe in here)!
No comments:
Post a Comment