The Lone Star State reported only 2,292 “new” coronavirus cases on Saturday, Save Jerseyans, for a state of approximately 29 million souls. New Jersey, by constrast, reported nearly double (3,968 positive PCR tests) on the same day out of its 9 million resident population.
Hospitalizations are also dropping in Texas which – for those of us who aren’t Faucists and still think “flattening the curve” was the only legitimate public policy goal – is a good sign for one of America’s most populous states.
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Here’s the really interesting part:
Saturday marked Day #17 of Texas’s relaxation of its statewide mask mandates. You can wear a mask down there if you want to – and some are, including the City of Austin – but its no longer a state-imposed requirement.
New Jersey’s mask requirement obviously remains firmly in place, and there’s every indication we’ll be wearing these things (vaccinated or not) at least into the beginning of 2022.
Am I pointing this out to change your mind on masks? Nah. At this point, many of you harbor individual views on “masking” that are as deeply ingrained as religious beliefs. If you think wearing a mask in the grocery store is tantamount to submitting to serfdom OR, on the other hand, you think wearing five masks – including one over each eye – is the only way to stay safe? Nothing I could say will make much of a difference.
I won’t accuse you of “Neanderthal thinking” like President Uncle Joe did when Texas announced its new mask policy.
My only purpose is to once again highlight the factual bankruptcy behind this Media-driven “Red States did it worse” narrative. New Jersey’s death rate (274 per 100,000 residents) remains FAR worse than Texas (166 per 100,000) and Florida (153 per 100,000). If New Jersey was a country? It’d be the deadliest COVID-19 nation on the entire planet.
Masks may not ultimately prove the dispositive variable for how well a state came through this. Decisions like the one made by Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy to send the elderly up to die in nursing homes are more likely to go down in infamy.
Dig deeper.
Look at the whole data set, not just the numbers you’re being fed.
Think for yourself; don’t meekly accept what they want you to believe.
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