TexasCOVID Trends After Governor Plays Blame Game

TexasCOVID and Governor Greg Abbott became a Twitter trending social media topic on Tuesday. In comments June 16 he criticized younger residents of his state for what he said was the reason in the coronavirus spike. 

Abbott specifically called out young people. 

“What we’re seeing there is that people of that age group, they’re not following these appropriate best health and safety practices,” he said in an interview Monday with Lubbock’s KLBK-TV. “They’re not wearing face masks, they’re not sanitizing their hands, they’re not maintaining the safe distancing practices. And as a result, they are contracting COVID-19 at a record pace in the state of Texas.”

Abbott provided no data to back up his assertions that TexasCOVID infections were increasing among 20-somethings faster than any other group.

A Texas Department of State Health Services spokesman Monday said it’s too soon to have hard data on 20-somethings contracting COVID-19 at a record pace. 

TexasCOVID History

The state of Texas began its phased reopening plan at the end of April. Bars were allowed to open May 22 with limited capacity and Abbott announced on June 3 that Texas would enter its third phase of reopening, meaning that restaurants could increase capacity to 75%.

The Governor said: “”We believe that a lot of people have let down their guard,” the governor said. “The summer’s here. Things are opening up. They feel like they can go out without having to wear a face mask.”

Abbott must have forgotten his own role in letting his guard down though. He alone took responsibility for reopening Texas as Scott Braddock noted back in April when the Governor removed the traditional authority centers, county judges and city mayors, from the decision making process.

There has been a steady rise in cases since the state moved into the third phase, Texas saw another new peak Tuesday, reporting 2,622 new cases and 2,518 Texans who have tested positive for the coronavirus are currently hospitalized.

A group of Texas mayors asked Abbott to require face coverings in public. Even with overwhelming scientific data that we are still in the first phase of TexasCOVID, Abbott has refused to require face coverings.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in a press release stated he had no desire for an argument with the Govenor or for jailing the non compliant, but “he was “calling on the Governor to either require masks through gubernatorial action or allow local governments to make the decusion for their communities.”