Who Was That Masked Man?*

In Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso, people will still be required to wear a mask to enter city-owned indoor spaces.

This includes libraries, police and fire department headquarters, convention centers and transportation hubs. https://t.co/cZ09y8PWSk

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 7, 2021

Following the President's lead.

Local leaders cannot impose fines or jail time for people who don’t follow mask mandates.

Cities will have to ban maskless people from entering city-owned property or escort people out if they remove face coverings once inside. https://t.co/R7u5YYWovk

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 7, 2021

Stores are on their own, too:

Texas business owners face another 2021 headache: how to weigh the risk of losing business from customers who don’t want to wear face masks against the concerns of patrons who will only visit places that require them. https://t.co/WxCKruLQqw

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 7, 2021

.@HEB now says masks at its stores "will remain" — after first saying customers would no longer have to wear face coverings starting March 10, when Gov. Greg Abbott's statewide mask mandate ends.https://t.co/lJE4QDLkha

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 7, 2021

Tide turning, IOW. Gov. Absent is on the wrong side of this issue.

Delia Ramos' husband is one of more than 43,000 Texans who died from COVID-19.

She’ll continue to wear her mask “with honor,” despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to end the mask mandate. https://t.co/WizLQDqPAr pic.twitter.com/49dWWEjSQ8

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 7, 2021

Really on the wrong side.

A chef at Xin Chao in Houston said the restaurant would continue requiring masks and operating at a reduced capacity.

But she is concerned about enforcing those policies because local agencies don't have to support her restaurant’s safety requirements. https://t.co/lDL5vuhDGv pic.twitter.com/qNLjnk1S8k

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 7, 2021

What? People will be responsible, right?

Picos, a Houston-based Mexican restaurant, decided to continue requiring face coverings after Texas' mask mandate ends.

Several people have since sent hateful messages and threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement.https://t.co/WlJOeUZr3u

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 7, 2021

Covid is still very much with us, and most of Texas seems to know that.  The winter storm of 2021 affected all of Texas, too; from the Gulf Coast to El Paso (about, what, 900 miles apart?  Close enough.), from Amarillo to Del Rio down to the Valley (fruit crops were destroyed, massively).   The entire state, IOW.  Hurricanes effect cities, sometimes regions (though you’d think Harvey affected only Houston), tornadoes have even smaller footprints, and drought just affects farmers (again, you’d think).  Winter storms usually affect one city or another, and unless it’s a big city, nobody really notices.  The winter storm was unprecedented in scope and intensity, and Gov. Absent’s response has been “Somebody will pay!”, which left everybody paying their own bills, to “Look!  No maskies!.” None of this has earned him a: “Thank you, Governor! You’ve saved us!”  Now he thinks “cancel culture” and being anti-Facebook will help.  Distractions and misdirection, in other words, because he can’t/won’t do shit about what’s affecting Texans right now.

Even in Texas, I don’t think this is a winning strategy.

Most of the cities in Texas are Democratic.  Funny how Abbott is making them look better and better.

 *You probably have to be at least this old to catch that, and understand how it applies here.