Governor Abbott’s opening of Texas 100% and removal of mask mandate has caused a lot of reaction and opinion across the country. Hell, probably the world. Here’s the official summary of the announcement, and the PDF of the Executive Order.
“… Today’s announcement does not abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year. Instead, it is a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety and the safety of others. With this executive order, we are ensuring that all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny.”
I have never been happier to be a born-and-bred Texan, and this is why: personal responsibility and freedom of choice.
The order isn’t truly about masks or occupancy. What the order changes—and back to its rightful place—is putting the onus on individuals to decide what they are comfortable with: personal responsibility. That includes businesses, who are free to decide their own beliefs and to ask customers to wear masks, and individuals, who are free to support businesses whose policies are in line with their beliefs and feelings of safety. Whereas the previous mandate limits the freedoms of businesses and individuals to make these decisions for themselves, the removal of the mandate allows for everyone in the state to make their own choices regarding their own health.
I am happy to wear a mask in order patronize businesses that believe that they are protecting their employees with mask requirements because that is their right, and this is mine. Pre-pandemic, I wiped down my equipment at the gym because they require it because they believe it makes the gym a safer environment; I wore a shirt at restaurants besides Hula Hut because they require it because they believe it makes the restaurant a safer environment. Businesses have long enforced rules, and in order to patronize them, I abide, whether I believe in them or not. I don’t have to wipe down my garage gym equipment or wear a shirt when I eat at home. I make my choice.
Let me reiterate that the opening of Texas is not about the act of wearing a mask itself before I point out that more data is emerging that says that masks and lockdowns are not even effective. I do not think masks are anything but safety theater (data from BU/The Covid Tracking Project). Here is another chart supporting the same with Johns Hopkins case data.
More people have died as a result of lockdowns than have been helped, and that doesn’t count the number of people with psychological trauma caused by isolation that will take years to undo. Physical human contact is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. The lifting of restrictions allows individuals the freedom to make personal choices which could include lockdown/sequester/quarantine, without limiting the freedom of others to make different choices about, again, their own health.
For me, a lack of human contact is much riskier for my health than Covid*. That’s personal.
Finally, don’t agree with me? Awesome, let’s talk. Continue to think for yourself, read differing opinions, question your sources, and do your research. In other words, do not do as this absolutely infuriating op-ed in the damn New York Times asks readers to do: stop critical thinking. I could not hate this article more. Think critically, and for yourself.
It is, after all, your personal responsibility.
Want balanced mainstream coverage? This Atlantic article is well-rounded and fair about the public’s pandemic fatigue and the media’s role in it; Zeynep Tufekci is one of the most thoughtful, thorough writers I have read in recent memory.
*It bears mentioning that I have tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies in rigorous blood tests. It means I either had it in January 2020 and recovered without issue and have retained antibodies for over a year, or was exposed in December 2020 when I was staying with three people who later tested positive for active cases, and had it without symptoms. Both scenarios suggest that my personal risk calculation was the most effective for me: my own health is better served by human contact than concern for contracting the virus.
Last section, promise. This is part of this covidtainment checklist series: Week 51. Week 50. Week 49 (blizzy). Week 48. Week 47. Week 46. Week 46 41: the convo is back. Week 45. Week 44. Week 43. Week 42. Week 41. Week 40. Week 39. Week 38. Week 37. Week 36. Week 35. Week 34. Week 33. Week 32. Week 31. Week 30. Week 29. Week 28. Week 27. Week 26. Week 25. Week 24. Week 23. Week 21. Week 21: the shame convo. Week 20. Week 20: the infection convo. Week 19. Week 19: the polarization convo. Week 18. Week 18: the wrong convo. Week 17. Week 17: the convo. Week 16 (the rant). Week 15. Week 14. Week 14+. Week 13 skipped (it’s unlucky anyway). Week 12 (not really about Covid). Week 11. Week 10. Week 9. Week 8. Week 7. Week 6. Week 5 here. Week 4 here. Week 3’s here. Week 2’s here. There is no Week 1 because we didn’t know back then.