I must be psychic, or really good at timing the obvious.
The day after my April 26, "Reopening Redux" entry, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced that he would not renew any public health orders. As reported by Theresa Waldrop and Gregory Lemos of CNN, Lee announced that "Covid-19 is no longer a health emergency in our state." As I mentioned in "Reopening Redux," just 25% of Tennesseans have been vaccinated, and Tennessee's infection rate was the worst in the country. Lee thus made the classic GOP move of ignoring data and playing to people's emotional preferences. He follows Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in fully opening to establish a faux sense of control..
On Monday, May 3, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation that enables him to override any city or county emergency restrictions. Limitations on business capacity and mask mandates are therefore vetoed in the name of "freedom."
The red state policy failures of 2020 have resulted in no learning curve at all. Repeating past policy decisions while assuming different results is the very definition of organizational insanity. Public health has never been a strong suit of the GOP, and the push for illusory normalcy may result in thousands of preventable deaths by the end of 2021.
Bob Dietz
May 5, 2021
