Heck, I've been telling everyone to follow the science, and attacking the "leaders" that aren't. I agree completely. Still miss the company, though. We've only had our daughter, who lives in town, come over to visit in like 3 months, and that only started on Mother's Day. She lives alone in a nice apartment, is a software developer, doesn't drive, and works from home. In other words, she's pretty much been doing what we've been doing, except that we're retired. That's it. We're lucky we've got our dog. ;-)
Plus I've read that the new cases are skewing to the younger generation, who have a minuscule chance of dying.
I know you have been telling everyone to follow the science and have been critical of Abbott and others like him. My wife and I made the choice when the lockdowns went in effect allowing small family gatherings at our homes that we would still go visit my parents that live about 15-20 minutes away in Katy a couple days a week. Other than that, we, too, have stayed home. My parents are both retired (dad turns 73 next month; mom turned 68 on June 5), and, in the case of my dad, he runs a two-person family business with my wife where they convert slides, reels, VHS types and mini DV tapes to DVDs. My mom goes out more than I wish she would (grocery store/Costco nearly every week, sometimes other shopping) but she at least goes during senior hours at the grocery store. I know it’s a risk, but considering my wife and dad work together alone, and I stay at home every day watching our five-year-old daughter, it’s a level of risk I’m willing to take. I trust them, myself and my wife to take all the necessary precautions to not hopefully catch COVID-19. So far, it’s worked out. Now, our church announced on Sunday that they were going to start Children’s Ministry again soon (I think that’s a major mistake) and my dad serves in that ministry. If he decides to go back to start serving again, I’ll have to reconsider visiting them in person. To date, neither him, my mom, my wife, daughter nor I have been back to our church since it reopened May 24. I hope it stays that way until the pandemic subsides.
Actually the TMC clarified this false report today. Said they have plenty of options to expand capacity. It's posted above.
So how much egg is on the face of Abbott after rushing to be the first or second to open? How effective is keeping the status quo going to be for Abbott (concerning restrictions)?
It reminds me of a child sticking his hand on the stove. Everyone knows the stove is hot.......... everyone knows what happens if you touch a hot stove....... but ole governor hot wheels is racing over there to shove his hand on the burner.
Good analogy. It just kills me that Abbott and Patrick are so brutally incompetent and so fearful of trump. Actually, I hope it doesn't kill me. Lt Governor Dan Patrick, who my significant other had to work with for a couple of years before she retired (which helped make up her mind to quit), is a genuine lunatic. Here's an example: Spoiler As Donald Trump pushed to re-open the US economy in weeks, rather than months, the lieutenant governor of Texas went on Fox News to argue that he would rather die than see public health measures damage the US economy, and that he believed “lots of grandparents” across the country would agree with him. “My message: let’s get back to work, let’s get back to living, let’s be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves,” Lt Gov Dan Patrick, a 69-year-old Republican, told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday night. “Don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick said. “Don’t do that.” Patrick said he feared that public health restrictions to prevent coronavirus could end American life as he knows it, and that he is willing to risk death to protect the economy for his grandchildren. “You know, Tucker, no one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’” Patrick said. “And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.” “That doesn’t make me noble or brave or anything like that,” he added. “I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me.” At the White House’s coronavirus briefing Monday night, the administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, said that emerging data from Europe suggested that 99% of the coronavirus deaths were people over age 50, and that many had pre-existing conditions. That “doesn’t change the need to protect the elderly”, Birx said.
Our HEB near us in Southwest Austin, one of the places we get deliveries from, is the exact opposite. They're great. My one complaint is that they only sell alcohol inside the store. Not a big deal since we have several other sources, but a small inconvenience. Austin's mayor, Steve Adler, has really shined during this crisis. We're lucky to have him, or things would be a lot worse here, in my opinion. He's responsible for citywide mandatory rules for businesses and individuals, as well as a lot of suggestions and information about the virus. He took strong action way back, when he cancelled South by Southwest. That got international attention and a lot of people and businesses complained, which was understandable. However, Adler's move was brilliant, in my opinion. It would have been a disaster, helping to spread the virus not only here in Austin, but across the country and beyond. Mayor Adler's biggest problem? Abbott's stupid statewide order that local cities and governmental bodies can't do things like require citizens to wear masks in public. We have requirements in Austin to contain the virus, but the city can't enforce them. Rules without teeth, thanks to Abbott. Abbott issues ludicrous orders like that, tying the hands of local officials to deal with this crisis, but apparently is "helpless" to issue a statewide order that Texans wear masks around other people in public and maintain social distancing. Heck, I wish Adler was governor. Maybe he'll decide to run against Abbott in 2022. I'd support him. For current information about COVID-19 from the city, people can check out http://www.austintexas.gov/covid19.
Pandering...he's not stupid and he actually ran as a moderate Republican to win his primary and eventually his election, but began toeing the line almost as soon as he was elected. Someone got in his head that he could be a Republican "star" so he's been just another GOP shill. It's too bad his district is ridiculously gerrymandered (runs from west Houston, up to Cypress, up around North Houston, and over to Northeast Houston) so that it stays Republican-controlled. Would love if he lost in November and his star plummeted. However, my guess is he's hoping one of the Senate seats open up or may be getting ready to try to replace Abbott if Greg ever leaves.
