Texas Progressives discuss coronavirus, week 19

As coronavirus cases continue their new surge, as national deaths pass 160,000, and Texas passes 7,000 deaths and passes California in death rate, it's time to dig in to another week of separate coronavirus coverage from Texas Progressives.

Texas

DosCentavos takes a look at COVID-19 national reporting on Mexican American-heavy South Texas. A combo of bad public policy, bad leadership and bad personal decisions has made South Texas a pandemic hotspot.

Texas State Rep. Tony Tinderholt had a severe case of COVID, enough to hyperbolically make him claim he was about to die (it's clear, per the story, he wasn't) but is still a #COVIDIOT, unapologetic for pushing Abbott to "reopen Texas," still claiming Abbott's actions to temporarily close restaurants and keep him from eating Freedom Fries was "illegal." I thought Herman Cain's death might enlighten some wingnuts. I guess I was wrong, especially given that Tinderholt was in a high-risk population. (Meanwhile, Trump is claiming Cain didn't get it at his Tulsa rally. Bullshit.) And, of course, there's Gohmert Pyle.

North Texas is running low on ICU space.

TEA has early last month said local health authorities could prophylactically close public schools. Then Kenny Boy Paxton, with a DUBIOUS reading of section 97.6(h) of the Texas Administrative Code, said no they couldn't. Now, following in the wake of a piece two weeks ago by CD Hooks about the Jesuitical Greg Abbott, he's doing it again, trying to Solomonically split this baby.

To me, as I said on Twitter, and contra Kenny Boy, the rule is clear, and, just to kick him and Abbott harder, IMO, could be used to close churches as well. Read:

The health authority is empowered to close any public or private child-care facility, school or other place of public or private assembly when in his or her opinion such closing is necessary to protect the public health; and such school or other place of public or private assembly shall not reopen until permitted by the health authority who caused its closure.

First, that seems to pretty clearly allow prophylactic closure with "protect the public health." Second, re churches? "Public or private assembly."

Jon Fischer lays out the possible ways that the 87th Legislature could be different under pandemic conditions.

El Paso Matters reports on new Republican Party of Texas Chair Allen West meeting with El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen and other law-enforcement officials, all without masks and in seeming violation of a local health order forbidding gatherings of more than ten people.

National

Yet more cases of kids catching COVID at summer camps. At the camp in question, kids, even if older, weren't required to mask up, hence, the question of just how much kids can indeed be "spreaders."

Fauci talks more about mistakes the country made. Is he, belatedly, slipping more of his Trumpian leash?

MLB won't really shut back down, even as the Cardinals join the Marlins among the COVID-stricken. Manfred's leaning on Tony Clark will get him to lean enough on team player reps to do some cosmetic fixes, and more players will get COVID and baseball will slouch further toward Gomorrah and irrelevance. (I've paid little attention to this season, and if the "temporary" universal DH becomes permanent, and games slow down even more, will more fully move on.) Commish Corleone ignoring, as with the Cardinals, the number of non-players with COVID, including the possibility they're the source, will only fuel tensions for a year ahead, on labor negotiations, if he continues to blame players first. That said, players need to step up. And, the union needs to make sure to address any cultural issues Latino players may have.

Even as the coronavirus kabuki theater of "scrub and spray everything" continues, Zeynep Tufikci notes that we continue to ignore adequate ventilation, or doing other things about it. (My one local school district, as part of otherwise necessary improvements to its high school's HVAC system, got a new return air system that has UV-C sterilization. How much the UV-C will do, vs. Tufekci's ideas on things like HEPA filters or opening the windows more and shutting off the damn AC — if many school district buildings even have non-fixed windows — is of course open for debate.)

Juanita has many thoughts (but maybe not so many prayers) about Louie Gohmert catching COVID-19.

World

Russia claims it will have a mass vaccination for coronavirus in October. I, like health experts, agree that putting something on the market that quickly raises questions of both safety and efficacy. Hell, Putin might just jab people with a placebo if he thinks he can get away with it.

The "risk society." An era of "second modernity" fueled by uncertainty. Sounds like today, no? Well, Ulrich Beck wrote about just this, three months before Chernobyl.