It has clearly worked. https://www.newsweek.com/covid-lock...ry-measures-international-study-shows-1561656
The problem with this Libertarian-ish approach is that masks don't protect me; they protect you. An individual's selfish refusal to wear one infringes on my liberty to live my life.
Another key point people miss is that by not wearing masks, it spreads and infects others. Not knowing that someone is infected and having the person not wear a mask could literally kill someone, cause permanent respiratory problems, etc. The reason why drunk driving is a crime isn't just because the drunk driver would be in danger, it's because innocent people can be in danger as well. The right to risk someone else's life isn't a guaranteed right.
Goldilocks conservatism in a nutshell. "We want local control! Limited Government!" *local municipalities enact mask orders* "No... not that type of local control!"
Logical... but unfortunately, we are talking about the people that led us to half a million deaths in less than a year. Doing something logical is too high a bar unfortunately...
I was trying to answer that original post but wasn't clear when I said fully open society. We have a society that does whatever it wants (freedom, individualism, and of course making simple things controversial because of freedom). People in this type of society don't react much when you don't have serious requirements with serious penalties. What drives behavior is oh sh*t, this is bad, and then we mask up, are more careful until things seem to get better and we are back to relaxing again. With that attitude, one state impact all other states more than each state's mandate given enough time. It is also why no restriction doesn't equate to a better local, state, or national economy (the GOP position) - when things get bad, people retreat naturally, and things slow or shutdown. I think a good approach is a great toolset (S.Korea was a good initial example of an explosion of cases that they were able to contain with various governmental actions as they quickly spun up testing, tracing, isolation, deliveries of masks to all, etc.) so that you can have a soft lockdown but can also quickly react to conditions. That means uniform federal response and requirements. If today, we have a quick test for everyone that is painless and simple, that itself would do wonders for keeping sick people home. Some called for this ability (and we saw the NBA using a "slow" version of it), but there wasn't a concerted effort for it.
As a reminder... this is the same county judge that got off with a handslap for his second DUI (this time also hit a law enforcement vehicle)... and the local county judge that had COVID-19. So maybe his insight isn't the best...
The president of this country does not have that type of power, nor do we want him to have that type of power. Unfortunately, the legislature also has to be on board, but of course, then you would also have countless lawsuits tied up in court if national mask mandate was signed into law. The president does have national guidelines now, it's at the state's discretion if they want to follow them.
Of course you folks do realize that Gov. Wheelchair's actions are going to accelerate the Covid-19 mutation rates in the state but hey, that's what Texans voted for am I right???
Each ISD and each city will do their own things now. I doubt any school in the major city that already have mask requirement suddenly stop requiring them. Now, if Abbot want to pick this fight at that level... good luck.
