Open For Business?

With the statewide mask mandate ending next week, Texas businesses must decide whether to require their customers to wear face masks.

“I do feel that we’ll probably lose guests based on whatever decision we do make,” one manager told The Texas Tribune. https://t.co/y8UtTlGjpz

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 4, 2021

Or tired of being responsible? (Gov. Absent, I mean; Texas businesses have always been responsible for responding to this pandemic, because government refuses to be.)

I was going to post that alone today, but Gov. Absent continues to prove that Texas politicians are Not Ready For Primetime.  They shame us all in the Lone Star State, but that's the price we pay for electing idiots.

MAPPED: Nationwide, progress against the virus has stalled.

The U.S. averaged just under 65,000 new cases per day over the past week. That’s essentially unchanged from the week before, ending a six-week streak of double-digit improvements. https://t.co/U6NeMMfttw

— Axios (@axios) March 4, 2021

Just want to be sure we're clear on that before we proceed.

First, Abbott can't keep his stories straight:

Abbott's spokeswoman Renae Eze said the governor was "clear in telling Texans that COVID hasn’t ended, and that all Texans should follow medical advice and safe practices to continue containing COVID.""The fact is, Texas now has the tools and knowledge to combat COVID while also allowing Texans and small businesses to make their own decisions," she said in a statement.

But wait; he told CNBC:

COVID is completely over," Abbott told CNBC Thursday morning, attacking Democrats for "moving the goalposts" about when he can and can't reopen. There are currently five COVID-19 variants in the state and about 13.4 percent of Texans have been vaccinated with the first vaccine and 13.5 percent have tested positive. ICU occupancy rates in Texas are at 88 percent, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. 

He also decided his line of assault would be "Fear Of Foreigners!"  He even expanded it beyond the borders of Texas this time:

"The Biden administration must stop importing Covid into our country, that is a Neanderthal approach," @GregAbbott_TX says. He explains why lifting restrictions might seem like a big deal to people in New York, but "it's not that transformative." https://t.co/ophUkI79Gl pic.twitter.com/stPC615hlq

— CNBC (@CNBC) March 4, 2021

He's lying about the enforcement issue. His orders made mask wearing enforceable as a matter of law. That was a big issue when this started. All he's done is shift the burden to business, while telling people they don't have to wear masks if they don't want to.  If he wanted to maintain the status quo, and there was no enforcement issue before his announcement, why make the announcement?  As for scary immigrants spreading disease (could he be more racist and xenophobic?), Gov. Absent remains....absent:

DHS has already set plans in motion to use Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to support community efforts to test, isolate and quarantine migrants released from Border Patrol custody, the official told CNN. But the grant money needs to be approved by the state before it can be distributed to border communities. CNN previously reported plans were underway to use FEMA funds to help localities acquire tests.

As of Wednesday, Texas had not yet provided a response to the administration since engaging with the Department of Homeland Security.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded to Gov. Greg Abbott's false claim that Biden is importing COVID into Texas, "We are about facts around here, that is not factual." Psaki also said that Texas is supposed to be testing migrants for COVID. pic.twitter.com/Gh9mbgmCtc

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) March 4, 2021

I keep thinking of GOP "leaders" who brag about how "business-friendly" Texas is. February (and now into March) is revealing Texas to be governed by a clown college and operating at a level that would embarass third-world countries.