“Removing Restrictions” by Hailie P.

 

The CDC has recently reported new variants of Covid-19 are popping up across the United States. Despite that, states are beginning to open back up. Governor of Texas, Greg Abbot, is one of the first to announce he is lifting restrictions. He states, “It is now time to open Texas 100 percent.” Texas currently has a population of 29 million people. It is the first large state to consider opening back up despite the pandemic still continuing. Many other states are set on following in this state's footsteps. For Example, Mississippi is also considering lifting all restrictions. Greg Abbot is quoted saying, “We now have vaccines”. He believes that the state of Texas should not continue to worry about the virus, but instead should get vaccinated and back to normal life. Abbot insists that continuing to live under restrictions is hurting the United states economy due to reduced employment opportunities and business capacity. The CDC however is warning that citizens should continue to wear masks and remain 6 feet from each other. The new variants of the virus have the CDC on high alert and they suggest it is not a good idea to completely remove restriction until herd immunity is obtained. 

Should states remove restrictions? Is Greg Abbot right? Is the CDC right? When will it be safe to remove restrictions ? 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gov-greg-abbott-lift-texas-mask-mandate-open-state-100-n1259329

"What the Winter Weather Says About Our Political Climate" by Brooke H.

 

The devastating winter weather storms have taken lives and caused lack of electricity, water, and shelter. Damages from the storms are going to cost over $200 billion. These storms have also shown a sense of division between our country’s response to climate change. In Texas there even has been a major disaster declared. Despite this, both parties still have been showing different responses and not much unity. 

Texas has had so much trouble with this storm because they choose to have their power grids separate from the rest of the country to avoid federal regulation. This means that many different corporations can make their own choices of what to regulate also. This has caused a lot of outrage looking back after the impact it has had on Texas. Even though many have been claiming that “green energy” is the cause for most of the failures, in the blackouts, Texas’s grid reportedly lost approximately five times as much power from natural gas as from wind, after gas production and pipelines froze. This ties into the battle between climate change and corporations that can be seen far further than just this storm and texas. 

There have been many different political reactions to the storm. The two most publicized have been Ted Cruz and Joe Biden. Joe Biden visited Texas on Friday after declaring the national emergency. He also has stated that, “We’re not here today as Democrats or Republicans,” Mr. Biden said. “We’re here today as Americans.” This has become a stark contrast of the outcry of Ted Cruz’s vacation during the emergency.  Many have been deeply upset by him leaving his home state when it was in such a state of distraught. 

One can hope that this will open more doors to infrastructure change and more talks of unity. Do you think that it is okay for Cruz to go on vacation during this time? Do you think that we need to create infrastructure change to help prepare more? Was Texas at fault for not wanting to have to abide by federal regulations? 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/us/politics/biden-texas-storm-recovery.html

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/north-america/2021/02/what-texas-storm-reveals-about-climate-politics-us