Just Saying 'No' to New Mask Mandates

No New Mask Mandates 

Most Governments Engage in Policymaking to Address Problems, Texas Governor Prohibits It

Governor Abbott is again limiting his future options, rather than keeping them open. 

Keeping them open would givce him room for maneuver and the ability to adjust to evolving circumstances; the freedom to devise a commensurate if  not  optimal course of action -- as needed -- to mitigate the remaining pandemic risks short of herd immunity. 

But there is a certain logic to it. 

When the handling of the pandemic, and of other serious problems, is based on ideology and desire to please the partisan base, changing facts on the ground -- i.e, ascertainable reality -- must  not be allowed to get in the way.  

Using this approach, expertise and new scientific insights are rendered redundant. 

Sad to see. 

Policy Preclusion 

The policy -- here the categorical rejection of new a mask mandate going forward  -- is predetermined based on partisan political expediency alone. 

And it is not even a substantive policy addressed to the problem, but a deliberate negation of one available policy response not only for the time being, but also prospectively. And it precludes lower governmental units from using their own best judgment on how to confront the real-life conditions they face in their specific localities. 

Last wish going unfulfilled. Too late for the vax on death bed. 

REFERENCES:

Gov. Greg Abbott says he won't impose new mask mandate despite increasing COVID-19 cases. Abbott reiterated Tuesday that Texas schoolchildren will not face mask requirements as they return to school later this summer. TEXAS TRIBUNE 2021-07-21 by PATRICK SVITEK. (During a news conference Wednesday in Houston, Abbott went further and expressed blanket resistance to any new restrictions to fight the virus. He said Texas is 'past the time of government mandates' and in 'time for personal responsibility.'). 

As COVID cases climb, parents make tough choices ahead of the upcoming school year. Families with unvaccinated children are concerned as COVID-19 cases are climbing at the worst possible time — weeks before a new school year. KHOU-11 by MARCELINO BENITO 2021-07-20 updated 2021-07-21 

333 of 670K fully vaccinated people caught COVID-19 in Travis County. KXAN NEWS 2021-07-13 updated 2021-07-14 by GRACE READER ("Travis County and City of Austin health leaders said Tuesday we’re now seeing another rise in COVID-19 cases, and hospitalizations have nearly doubled following the Fourth of July holiday.")