Texas

[Elle23]

I would love to. I think we COULD keep things open with distancing and wearing masks, but people simply refuse. If things aren't open, the non mask wearers would have no where to go and therefore can keep their risky behavior to themselves.

I don’t know where you are, but where I am in the DFW metroplex, everyone is wearing masks. And as far as I can tell, the positive numbers are going down.

I have a hard time saying we should punish businesses and strip people of their livelihoods because some people won’t wear a mask.

 

[godisney14]

I don’t know where you are, but where I am in the DFW metroplex, everyone is wearing masks. And as far as I can tell, the positive numbers are going down.

I have a hard time saying we should punish businesses and strip people of their livelihoods because some people won’t wear a mask.

I’m not seeing cases go down in TX.
There is a weekly pattern of a Monday or Tuesday reporting lower cases due to a weekend lag, though. That doesn’t mean the cases are actually lower.

Well, there are businesses that do need to shut down.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-bar-dance-rally-gov-abbotts-coronavirus-close
Just read all those hundreds of comments. Unbelievable.

 

[HashberryOTG]

I don’t know where you are, but where I am in the DFW metroplex, everyone is wearing masks. And as far as I can tell, the positive numbers are going down.

I have a hard time saying we should punish businesses and strip people of their livelihoods because some people won’t wear a mask.

I'm not Metroplex, but DFW area. I'd have more faith if there weren't so many counties or cities bragging about how great it is they are refusing to follow the mask rule currently in place. I read the out right hostility on my community's Facebook if there is a discussion about people wearing masks. I've been glared and muttered at for putting my mask on before entering a building, and I've seen it done to way too many others. If you're encountering great compliance where you are, I'm happy for you. I really am, and I wish I were seeing the same. It has improved since masks became required in businesses tho. Once the time from that change trickles into the current #s, if they start dropping, I'm happy to change my tune. Until then, my faith in others to do the right thing to help bring the numbers down without being forced to is simply too low. Just my personal opinion.

 

[RamblingMad]

I'm not Metroplex, but DFW area. I'd have more faith if there weren't so many counties or cities bragging about how great it is they are refusing to follow the mask rule currently in place. I read the out right hostility on my community's Facebook if there is a discussion about people wearing masks. I've been glared and muttered at for putting my mask on before entering a building, and I've seen it done to way too many others. If you're encountering great compliance where you are, I'm happy for you. I really am, and I wish I were seeing the same. It has improved since masks became required in businesses tho. Once the time from that change trickles into the current #s, if they start dropping, I'm happy to change my tune. Until then, my faith in others to do the right thing to help bring the numbers down without being forced to is simply too low. Just my personal opinion.

All this is going to happen is that the communities that fail to wear mask will see more of their local businesses shutdown as their cases spread faster. If you want to give your economy a chance, wear a mask and hope for slower spread. If you don't want to wear a mask, then don't complain when you shutdown down again. The reality is that this recession will continue for longer if cases aren't contained to some reasonable level.

 

[Planogirl]

Soon we won't likely know how many cases there actually are. The feds are taking away the numbers from the CDC and I have little faith that we will know actual numbers after that. I hope that I'm wrong.

 

[anthony2k7]

Alternate to what?

To a full shutdown?

The current rules are clearly not working.

 

[Elle23]

To a full shutdown?

The current rules are clearly not working.

Well the mandatory mask mandate hasn’t been in effect all that long. Don’t we need time to see if it is working?

 

[anthony2k7]

Well the mandatory mask mandate hasn’t been in effect all that long. Don’t we need time to see if it is working?

How long do you suggest? And what would be a maximum cases per day during that time before deciding more must be done?

 

[DisneyOma]

My area is the same. Not in Texas, I live in PA, but the whole mask wearing thing has become very polarized and political. I live in an upscale but still mostly rural community which is largely conservative and NOBODY wears masks anymore. I posted yesterday about my recent visit to my dentist--no one was wearing masks. Not him or his assistant or his wife, not anyone in the waiting room. I wore mine and felt very awkward, and I was asked to take it off as soon as I sat down in the chair. I don't understand why no one will wear masks when our cases are spiking, every day our local news is reporting that we are hitting new records for cases. I'm so disappointed in my community.

My dentist and hygienist have been wearing masks, face shields, gloves, way before the pandemic, just for basic healthcare reasons of dealing with someone else's saliva, blood, etc. You should find a new dentist!

I’m not seeing cases go down in TX.
There is a weekly pattern of a Monday or Tuesday reporting lower cases due to a weekend lag, though. That doesn’t mean the cases are actually lower.

Well, there are businesses that do need to shut down.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-bar-dance-rally-gov-abbotts-coronavirus-close
Just read all those hundreds of comments. Unbelievable.

And the idiot quoted in the article: "It doesn't make no sense whatsoever and it's totally discrimination is all it is," Chris Bergeron said. "I'm not sure why they are picking on us ... I don't know what (the governor's) reasons are, but it's wrong. It's completely wrong. It's totally against our constitutional right."

Double negative aside (which labels him as a buffoon right away IMO) he comes off as a whiny toddler who missed his nap. Admitting he doesn't know why - such a stupid man.

 

[Elle23]

How long do you suggest? And what would be a maximum cases per day during that time before deciding more must be done?

I don’t think we should shut down. I’m not sure what the point is as long as there is adequate hospital/ supply capacity. Vulnerable people should shelter at home as needed and the rest of us should take the necessary precautions and get on with life.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I don’t think we should shut down. I’m not sure what the point is as long as there is adequate hospital/ supply capacity. Vulnerable people should shelter at home as needed and the rest of us should get on with life.

Here's a thread from a young woman who got COVID this spring and was otherwise completely healthy and young.

"My life has changed so dramatically in the last four months. I had a mild case of COVID and now I use a cane, a shower chair, multiple medications to manage my heart... I can walk slowly around my house during the day, wearing compression socks and stockings, but still need to spend a significant amount of time in bed and need to avoid stairs as much as possible. I only leave my house to go to the doctor. I have to take a car, door to door."

If you are a human being, you are vulnerable to awful side effects that might be permanent.

 

[anthony2k7]

I don’t think we should shut down. I’m not sure what the point is as long as there is adequate hospital/ supply capacity. Vulnerable people should shelter at home as needed and the rest of us should take necessary precautions and get on with life.

Hospitals in Houston are full, and a few other areas of texas as well I believe.

So if that is your check point for action required then there it is. What should happen?

As for vulnerable, who would you include in that?

 

[mom2aandj]

Hospitals in Houston are full

Texas Medical Center Website says their Phase 1 ICU beds are full but that they have capacity through Phase 2and 3 and potentially more.
https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/overview-of-tmc-icu-bed-capacity-and-occupancy/

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Texas Medical Center Website says their Phase 1 ICU beds are full but that they have capacity through Phase 2and 3 and potentially more.
https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/overview-of-tmc-icu-bed-capacity-and-occupancy/

"We have room in the overflow ICU" is not great messaging.

 

[godisney14]

I don’t think we should shut down. I’m not sure what the point is as long as there is adequate hospital/ supply capacity. Vulnerable people should shelter at home as needed and the rest of us should take the necessary precautions and get on with life.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of people already getting on with life with ZERO concern for taking any precautions. If these people can’t be bothered with the smallest inconveniences in life, we need government to force them to do so.

 

[aggiedog]

I don’t think we should shut down. I’m not sure what the point is as long as there is adequate hospital/ supply capacity. Vulnerable people should shelter at home as needed and the rest of us should take the necessary precautions and get on with life.

FYI, hospitals are at capacity. I was in an emergency staff meeting this morning. We are a small community hospital an hour from the outskirts of Katy. We do not have an ICU. We have been taking Covid patients from Houston for a couple of weeks now. We have been asked to take ventilated patients, but can't due to lack of staff/resources (pre-Covid issues - we normally transfer patients TO Houston or Austin.) We had a patient this weekend in our ER that took almost 24 hours to get transferred because there were no beds available for critical care in the region.

The state is currently NOT in control of what is happening. No, there aren't freezer trucks parked at the Med Center yet (not that I know of) but we are in no shape or form doing well. Lots of people wearing masks is not going to change the current trajectory enough to make a difference. Factor in the idiots that throw "It's my right to not wear a mask" dance parties in Pasadena, and really, all bets are off.

I don't want to see the economy shut down. I have 40 employees. I want them to have a stable paychecks and access to health insurance. I also have 3 kids in college and would really like to be able to pay for that. But until we get a strong grip on what's going on, this will NOT get better. We need to shutter indoor activities, prohibit large gatherings, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY get our $hit together regarding testing, contract tracing, and enforced quarantine of infected individuals. If we shut down, then just reopen without that second arm of defense, we'll be right back where we are in a few months again. If we magically had testing, contact tracing, and enforced quarantines right now, I'm not sure it would make a difference. Texas has something like 2,500 contact tracers - trying to trace all potential significant contacts (and then find them and get them tested) for 9-10,000 new cases every day. That is humanly impossible. They will never catch up.

ETA - just saw the "we have overflow ICU beds" post. They may well have them, but they weren't taking patients from my hospital.

 

[godisney14]

Soon we won't likely know how many cases there actually are. The feds are taking away the numbers from the CDC and I have little faith that we will know actual numbers after that. I hope that I'm wrong.

This coronavirus could one day just magically disappear.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

This coronavirus could one day just magically disappear.

Well Florida prevented the ocean from rising by banning the phrase global climate change. So logically it follows then that if we don't keep statistics on Covid-19, it will just go away.

 

[HashberryOTG]

Well Florida prevented the ocean from rising by banning the phrase global climate change. So logically it follows then that if we don't keep statistics on Covid-19, it will just go away.

I think there are some that actually believe that....
Kinna like if we don't test for it, cases will go down?

Didn't someone famous say that?

All kidding aside, some days all of this stuff just gets to me more than others. Today I think I want to yell and pull my hair out. More coffee for me (counter intuitive, I know, but it's a comfort food!). I've learned in the midst of Covid, I'm an addict. Sometimes it is so hard to not click, even when I know I need a day off from it. The coffee addiction I embrace.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Part of the problem, at least as I see it, is there's no "teeth" in the mandatory mask law. Anyone who chooses not to wear a mask can do it. If approached by a law enforcement officer, all the non-masked person needs to do is say "I have a medical condition that prevents me from wearing a mask." The law states that the person cannot be questioned as to what the medical condition is (is it stupidity? No, I didn't say that!) Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that problem.