A Texas judge permits the city of Austin in weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott finished his state mask requirement and the other COVID-19 security policies to continue to demand facial coverage for local enterprises.
In Texas, which was the largest state to reduce the COVID-19 requirements earlier this month, face covers have only been loosely applied. The decision is likely to be challenged by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The virus outbreak in Texas has increased according to Johns Hopkins University. The seven day average for new cases in the United States rose from 55,516 on 11 March to 58,617 on Thursday during the last two weeks. They also state that the seven-day rate for daily new deaths has dropped from 1,371 on 11 March to 967 on Wednesday over the past two weeks.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 89,5 million people, or 27% of the population of the United States, received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine. Any 48.6 million people have finished their vaccine or 14.7 percent of the population.
The lowest number since October was about 3,400 COVID-19 patients in Texas. On Monday, all adults will begin to receive a coronavirus vaccine in Texas. Texas, as well as around other countries have set up plans to get people vaccinated and kids for example to go back to school using self-test kits in order to attend class when schools reopen. In order for things to go back to normal; i.e. before the pandemic, more people need to get vaccinated.
This relates to economics because many people who are against wearing masks may boycott these stores, however, in a place of ethics, the loss of money should not be as important as the potential lives saved.
Questions to consider:
Do you believe that lifting the mask mandate in Texas is justifiable/ a good idea if not everyone has gotten the vaccine?
What would be the best course of action for things to go “back to normal”; i.e. pre-pandemic?
3 comments:
I do not think that lifting the mask mandate in Texas is a good idea because, as more restrictions get lifted and life slowly starts to revert back to normalcy, the pandemic is still going on. People are still getting infected with the virus, and there are new cases everyday. I think until majority of the country has gotten the vaccine, and cases go down, is when the mask mandate should be lifted. The best course of action for things to go back to normal would be to continue to have restrictions like social distancing and wearing masks, but still continue to push out more and more vaccines. I think this is the best and quickest way for things to go back safely.
As vaccinations become accessible to more and more Americans, people are becoming more eager to open up the economy and immediately return to "normal" lives that they had been living prior to the pandemic. While it is understandable that people are incredibly sick of being in such a situation, as it has now been about a year since many places first began lockdowns, there are still many things unknown about the novel coronavirus, its effects, and the vaccines created to limit its' impacts. I agree with the decision to uphold a mask mandate in Austin as it reinforces the importance of respecting the threat of the virus and limiting its spread. The newest variants are observed as being more infectious and some of them even more deadly, as such, it is still incredibly important that people make an effort to remain safe. Furthermore, it appears that different vaccines have different levels of effectiveness in protecting against newer variants. Despite these risks, many still wish for a return to "normalcy," something unlikely to happen for the foreseeable future. Vaccinations existing does not mean that things can immediately revert to what they were pre-pandemic. The process should represent a gradual transition such that risks can be minimized and lives can be saved.
I think as a country we are progression nicely with getting back to "normal" with vaccines and things opening up, but I think lifting the mask mandate will only erase the progress we are making. While vaccines are becoming more and more accessible to all of us, we still aren't all vaccinated, and yes it would be nice to go back to how it used to be, that can't happen unless we continue to utilize mask wearing and social distancing. I think its a small and simple task, wearing a mask for 15 minutes while you go to the store or while your pumping gas that can yield such great results. Stopping the spread goes along with vaccinations to get back to normalcy and we can't get there if we do one or the other. I understand that we have been in this pandemic for over a year, and the masks can get a little annoying for long periods of time, but I think lifting the mask mandate just promotes reckless behavior and for people to take Covid-19 less seriously.
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