Pandemic Management with Monkey Wrench: Abbott's Policy of Thwarting COVID Containment

 While Other Governments Design and Implement Policies to Contain the Spread of the Delta Variant, Texas Governor Doubles Down and Bans Counties, Cities, and State Agency Officials from Doing So 

Punishing Containment Measures with Fines

THWARTER-IN-CHIEF 

It sounds preposterous, but here we go again. Texas Governor Greg Abbott once more invokes emergency powers under the Texas Disaster Act to thwart COVID-control measures by local governments that are designed to mitigate the declared disaster. Also decrees that local officials be subject to fines of  $1,000 if they do not obey his order by  imposing a face covering requirement. 

***

Local Officials to be fined $1,000 
for requiring masks 

The new order, denominated GA-38, is here: https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/EO-GA-38_continued_response_to_the_COVID-19_disaster_IMAGE_07-29-2021.pdf 

The order re-states previously-imposed provisions, but also eliminates the 15% hospitalization threshold that allowed local officials to set capacity limits for businesses. 

Response to GA-38 by Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins (D) 

AG PAXTON (R): NO TO VAX MANDATES 

REFERENCES 

'Beyond reckless': Abbott faces backlash for executive order clarifying stance on masks. MYSANANTONIO 2021-07-30 by PRISCILLA AGUIRRE 

On Wednesday, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff penned a letter to Abbott seeking his permission to allow schools to require face masks. Shortly after Abbott announced his new order, Nirenberg released a statement calling his action "tragically ironic.

"It is tragically ironic that Gov. Abbott continues his emergency order but has taken away the tools for us to mitigate that very emergency," Nirenberg said in a statement. "The governor has shown a callous disregard for life and safety in defiance of clear medical guidance and is risking the safety of our children and the recovery of our economy."

New order strips local officials' ability to set capacity limits amid high hospitalizations, stresses 'personal responsibility'. The new order comes as hospitalizations reached over 15% on Thursday in the Galveston region. Other areas are close to reaching that level. KHOU 11 2021-07-30 by ELINE DE BRUIJN 

The new order comes as hospitalizations reached over 15% on Thursday in the Galveston region, according to the state health department. Other areas are increasing close to that threshold, such as the Belton/Killeen region at 14% and Bryan/College Station region at 12%, according to the state. 

On Wednesday, WFAA reached out to county judges who said, at the time, still had the option to limit business capacity if hospitalizations were at 15%.

Now, here can be no COVID-related limits for operating a business or any other establishment, the new order said. School districts or local officials also can't enact mask requirements.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s new order bans local governments from issuing mask, vaccine mandates. KSAT Local News. 2021-07-29 by FARES SABAWI 

As Texas COVID-19 cases surge again, some local officials urge everyone to wear masks and unvaccinated residents to stay home. Officials in Dallas, Harris and Travis counties want residents to take stronger precautions as the delta variant drives an increase in coronavirus infections across Texas. TEXAS TRIBUNE 2021-07-23 updated 2021-07-24 by COLLEEN DEGUZMAN 

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.")