TX – It is dogma for some, such as President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and most of the national media, that mask mandates clearly and obviously bring down the number of COVID-19 cases, whereas the lack of such mandates puts millions at risk. This led to many doomsday predictions and accusations of “Neanderthal thinking” when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted his state’s mask mandate.
But it turns out that all the doomsayers were wrong about Texas. Meanwhile, Michigan, despite its mask mandate, is experiencing a troubling surge in new coronavirus infections.
When Texas moved to a full reopening and lifted its mask mandate on March 10, Biden was the one who called it “Neanderthal thinking.” Last week, he urged states to reinstate their mask mandates, saying, “This is not politics.” Now, 28 days later, the number of cases, deaths, and hospitalizations in Texas have all dropped .
That hasn’t stopped people like Fauci from warning that Texas shouldn’t be declaring victory because, just like with Florida’s reopening last summer, we are always two weeks away from the apocalypse. Why couldn’t Texas be more like Michigan, which has had a mask mandate in place for nine months?
Well, Michigan is now seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases — more new daily cases than at any time since early December. Michigan has only about one-third of Texas’s population, yet its raw number of average daily cases over the last seven days has been more than twice Texas’s. Deaths and hospitalizations in Michigan have risen substantially over the last 14 days, despite a mask mandate.
It’s another direct comparison that raises questions about the effectiveness of such COVID-19 restrictions. If the preferred policies of the doomsayers don’t produce significantly better results than those who would just let people make their own decisions, it raises serious questions about everything we sacrificed in the name of health and safety.
California had the strictest and longest lockdowns in the country. It largely destroyed its economy in an effort to stop the spread of the virus, and today it suffers from one of the worst state unemployment rates (8.5%) in the U.S. Yet, overall, it still saw a similar case count per 100,000 people as Florida (unemployment rate 4.7%), which mostly remained open throughout the pandemic. Now, the mask mandate that is so important has done little to stem the tide in Michigan, while Texas’s reopening preceded nearly a month of decreasing numbers.
Mask mandates at this point in the pandemic have become little more than a chance for Democrats such as Biden and Fauci to signal how much they care about safety. Biden wants to show that he’s taking the pandemic seriously, given how much leeway it gives him to pursue progressive policy such as the boondoggle stimulus that he called a relief bill. Fauci still can’t quit the spotlight that was bestowed on him early in the pandemic, no matter how often he speaks incorrectly or is proven wrong.
So, while Fauci remains confused that Texas could be doing well in the pandemic without the government dictating safety measures from on high, Michigan can’t get its caseload under control.
Moreover, mask mandates are not a crucial pandemic response tool simply because people can, and in many places do, choose to wear masks on their own. The mandates, rather, are a political tool and one that Democrats just can’t quit.
