Texas Unprepared

Two weeks after Governor Abbott issued his executive order re-opening the state for business statewide the rate of new COVID-19 cases continues to accelerate, topping 47,000 over the weekend according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Thursday set a record for new cases in a single day at 1448 then Saturday that record was shattered with 1801 new cases. Deaths in Texas due to COVID-19 now number over 1300 and climbing as well due to Thursday’s record high 58 deaths. Remember that COVID-19 symptoms often takes two weeks to present and patients often spend a week or more in intensive care units before succumbing to the disease so there’s a strong probability that deaths due to infections contracted since re-opening aren’t included in the latest statistics and won’t show up until the end of this week or early next week.

While there have been 645,000 tests over the last 30 days the daily number of tests hasn’t increased at near the rate of infection or death. Assuming that no one has been tested twice that means just over 2% of the 29.9 million Texans has even been tested. Unlike states that are aggressively investigating COVID-19 cases by following up with people who have tested positive one on one then contacting anyone who may have come into contact with the infected person Texas is passively collecting that information by offering to accept that information on a state website. Some cities and counties such as San Antonio are operating their own aggressive contact tracing programs in an effort to stem the tide of infection and death.

So many Texans are not only unemployed, they’re also not receiving the unemployment checks they’re due. My brother is on furlough and though he applied for unemployment as soon as he was eligible it’s been a month and he still hasn’t received the money he is due nor has he been able to contact anyone at the Texas Workforce Commission about the delay as their phone number just plays a recording saying that they aren’t answering phones so they can concentrate on processing claims. Fortunately he’s not one of the 40% of Americans who lives paycheck to paycheck. Food banks all over the state have run short of food due to the overwhelming demand for their services and aside from assistance by a few private donors little is being done to alleviate the situation.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s solution is to just let people die rather than providing timely relief while protecting the lives of Texas residents.

Clearly Texas wasn’t prepared to re-open for business as usual and the employees of Texas businesses are the ones most likely to suffer for it. With the state not providing timely payment of unemployment claims and food banks running dry many Texans are going hungry. Gov. Abbott re-opening the state for business just increases the risks to workers who face a choice between not returning to work in order to protect their health thereby making themselves ineligible for unemployment benefits whenever the state gets around to paying and putting themselves at risk of not only contracting COVID-19 from someone they come in contact with at work and then spreading it to their families.

It appears that President Trump the only people whose opinion matters to Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick are their wealthy campaign donors who are only interested in restoring cash flow to their businesses. Remember that in November when it’s time to vote, send them a message by voting for Democrats in the state legislature races.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - May 20, 2020

Time for Vote by Mail

Vote-by-mail has been successful in many states, including Texas, for decades. In Oregon all voting has been done by mail for 20 years. In Texas it has been limited to those 65 and over or those who will be out of town and therefore unable to vote in person. Texas and the other states have proven that vote by mail is both secure and desirable.

Nationally in the 2018 midterm election, 27 percent of all voters cast their ballot by mail. In states that have used vote-by-mail extensively, such as Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Utah and California, it has proven successful in increasing access to the ballot while also ensuring elections are fair and secure.

The public desires to the option to vote by mail as shown repeatedly in polls by a wide range of organizations including: USA Today/Suffolk University Poll (April 21-25, 2020) :65% of Americans support vote-by-mail as an alternative; AP-NORC Poll (April 16-20, 2020) :60% of respondents support allowing people to vote by mail-in ballot without requiring them to give a reason; Harvard/Harris Insights Poll (April 14-16, 2020) :72% of respondents backed conducting the presidential election entirely by mail; NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll (April 13-15, 2020) :58% favor changing election laws to allow everyone to vote by mail; Pew Research Center Poll (April 7-12, 2020) :70% of U.S. adults support allowing any voter to vote by mail if they want to; Reuters/Ipsos Poll (April 6-7, 2020) :72% of all U.S. adults, including 79% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans, supported a requirement for mail-in ballots as a way to protect voters in case of a continued spread of COVID-19 in 2020.

Efforts aimed at Vote-by-mail reforms have traditionally focused on ensuring that voters who can’t make it to the polls on Election Day because of work, school, health or other reasons are still able to vote. But now there are even more important reasons as we tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Voting by mail provides means of protecting public health as well as the people’s right to vote.

That’s why Republican and Democratic governors like Republican Governors Larry Hogan of Maryland and Mike DeWine of Ohio have turned to vote-by-mail as a solution in this crisis. Unfortunately even as support for vote-by-mail has grown among voters and political leaders alike, it has also been the focus of misleading attacks by President Trump. So let’s clear up a few things. First, there is absolutely no evidence that vote-by-mail benefits one party over the other.

It has been implemented in both Republican and Democratic states and has been deployed as an electoral strategy by both parties. In fact, GOP officials have openly admitted they used vote-by-mail as a strategy to help elect Trump in 2016.

Second, there is no evidence to suggest that vote-by-mail is less secure than in-person voting. In fact, vote-by-mail is a paper-based system that is not susceptible to cyber-hackers and can be easily audited by election officials to make sure the election results are accurate.

This is all to say that vote-by-mail is a great solution so voters do not have to pick between their right to vote and their personal safety amid a pandemic.

Of course here in Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is fighting in the courts to prevent us from having the opportunity to vote-by-mail. Paxton argues that his appeal of a lower court injunction that allows vote-by-mail for voters who don’t want to risk contracting COVID-19 from someone in line to vote. The ACLU says Paxton “gets the law wrong” which is really no surprise as he has that habit.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - May 13, 2020

Stimulus, Unemployment, and Your Health

In the last week there were nearly 15,000 deaths in the United States due to COVID-19 for a total of 55,415 and of those 623 were in Texas where another 150 died last week. All that and much of Texas re-opened for business as of last Friday. While we’re still told to practice social distancing and wear a mask though many still don’t like the police officer I noticed walking into an urgent care medical office to drop off some material from the city.

That $1200 stimulus payment we’re all supposed to get won’t go far for many who were put out of work as they still have to same bills to pay. Worse too many still haven’t gotten the money that was authorized over a month ago. Loans to small business provided by the second stimulus were absorbed by big businesses because too many banks would rather loan to them than small businesses. The third stimulus just added more funds and rules but still doesn’t address the needs of those out of work.

The unemployment rate is over 23% with around 26.5 million Americans out of work. Many workers were furloughed but still aren’t going back to work as their businesses aren’t on the re-open list yet. Many others were laid-off and therefore have less hope of returning to work in the near future. Food banks all over the country are running out of food as they experience three and four times normal demand. Given the difficult straits so many are in right now it’s a good thing Democrats in the House are working on another stimulus bill that will offer direct payments to the American people as well as provide funds for state and city governments so they can continue to pay their police, fire and other essential workers.

Unfortunately there may be problems getting such a bill passed by the Senate as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said "My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now," McConnell said in a radio interview. "That's not something I'm going to be in favor of."

New York Republican congressman Peter King was livid calling "McConnell's dismissive remark that states devastated by Coronavirus should go bankrupt rather than get the federal assistance they need and deserve is shameful and indefensible, to say that it is 'free money' to provide funds for cops, firefighters and healthcare workers makes McConnell the Marie Antoinette of the Senate."

Trump seems worried that taking too long to re-open businesses will leave the economy in a slump that will cost him the election. I worry that re-opening without taking the necessary measures which the medical community says involve mass testing and contact tracing followed by quarantine of those found testing positive will insure that many more people die than necessary and a second shut down may become necessary insuring further economic damage and uncertainty. We’d all be better off if we do it right the first time but Trump and Gov. Abbott don’t seem to share my view.

We’ll be continuing to stay at home for all but essentials like groceries and prescriptions as I have the good fortune of working from home. I hope anyone else that can work from home will so they can remain healthy.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 29, 2020

Business or Death

As of Sunday there have been 40,565 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States and 477 in Texas. Even though Texas hasn’t suffered near the rate of infection or death that New York or New Jersey have that doesn’t mean it can’t still happen. What the media and the bumbling fool in the White House fail to get across is that the suffering isn’t just death.  COVID-19 also results in 25% pulmonary function deficit that takes 15-20 years to heal, some sort of coagulopathy (excessive bleeding due to a failure to clot) present in ⅓ of patients (long term implications not clear), neurological deficits (it may not be only smell and taste that are affected). Joint inflammations (now being investigated), and liver damage—none of these things are trivial.

We know that kids are infected. It seems relatively benign. Do they have any alterations in their neurobehavioral development? Growth? The comparison is oft made to the flu. The flu is not neurotoxic, and it isn't hepatoxic either. And while there are some pulmonary consequences, they're pretty rare.

Republicans and Libertarians are complaining about the cost to the economy of keeping businesses closed. I don’t hear anyone asking about the costs to the economy from the deaths and long term health damage of large portions of their employees and customers?

The squatter in the White House is amping up his rhetoric about allowing businesses opening their doors while failing to take the steps necessary to prevent a second wave of infections. He’s encouraging armed protesters to hold rallies at state capitol buildings all across the country, there was one in Austin too. Not only are the guns carried by these yahoos dangerous and unnecessary the protestors are out there screaming without masks so they’re potentially infecting one another.

Gov. Abbott is talking about re-opening businesses in Texas in a couple of weeks and while the rate of infection and death has been 35 times lower than New York there is no evidence that the risk has passed. In fact public health experts say that there are a few things that must be done before the stay at home orders are lifted. First, testing for infection has to be much more widely available than it currently is so we know who is infected. Second, tracking down all those who have come into contact with the infected person over the prior two weeks and testing them has to be done. That isn’t as simple as it seems because then any of those found to be infected sets off another wave of contact tracing. This takes a lot of man power. Next, any found to be infected must be quarantined for a minimum of two weeks.

One of my sisters is a nurse in a rural hospital, she has tested positive for COVID-19 and is now in quarantine. She is well enough to stay at home now but that can change. Her health is in danger along with that of her family. In addition the hospital where she works is now understaffed putting further strain on the remaining medical staff at a time when number of patients with COVID-19 is rising.

Economists say the shutdown is costing the U.S. economy about $20 billion a day. Ramping up production of test kits and the ability to analyze the kits reportedly would cost $25 billion so in other words just a little more than one day of closure. If he wants to economy re-opened why isn’t the president taking steps to insure adequate test kit production and analysis capacity?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 20, 2020

Bernie Suspends Campaign

Senator Bernie Sanders has suspended his campaign which means the Democratic Party now essentially has a nominee for president. Former Vice President Joe Biden who has led in the polls and has won most of the primaries will be our nominee and while he isn’t the person I prefer he is far and away better for the American people than the current White House occupant and any other Republican who has run for the office in more than 60 years.

It is important to the citizens of this country that we elect a president who is more concerned with the health and well-being of the people than the bottom line of corporate America. To insure that such a president is elected it is incumbent on us to support the Democratic nominee even if he isn’t the one some of us including me wanted. On the bright side Joe Biden has moved left by adding a wide range of progressive positions to his platform that were pushed by the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Biden’s latest addition is Senator Warren’s bankruptcy proposal which is much more in line with addressing the needs of the average American and less a prop for the wealthiest 1% or corporate wishes. He’s also announced further support for student debt forgiveness and lowering the Medicare age requirement in addition to expressing interest in expanding efforts on climate change. Biden now calls for the forgiveness of student debt for student borrowers with incomes up to $125,000 with a phase-out to avoid a cliff. None of these moves would have been possible without credible challengers and the hotly contested campaign over the last six months.

Bernie Sanders has always said “Not me, us” and he continues to behave like that. He suspended his campaign saying "I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win, and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour." Sanders also said he’s leaving his name on the remaining primary state ballots and will continue to collect delegates to the convention in order to exert pressure on Biden to accept progressive priority positions.

Bernie ran as a Democrat because in both 2016 and 2020 because he has always known that it was more important to not split the left than for him to run in the general. What’s really important is moving toward his vision of what America can be.

Right now nothing is more important than beating Trump in November and all the Democratic candidates agree on that now it’s a matter of winning their support and that of their supporters. Biden campaign has been in touch with the other candidates and their staff, he’s reached out to progressive groups that supporter his opponents and he’s expanded his positions on a wide range of issues to address their concerns. Now we, the activists and supporters of those opponents need to demand that Biden finish the job and earn our support. I think he’ll do that and when he does we need to show our support by voting for him, donating to his campaign and working to get out the vote.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 15, 2020

Democracy in the COVID-19 Crisis

Some of my Libertarian acquaintances have expressed concerns about the government response to the COVID-19 crisis those concerns have been largely about federal funds being for economic stimulus. I see the Democratic Party led effort to provide for those who have lost income and jobs to be just the beginning and a need for more. The real threat I see is to our democracy has to do with steps local, state, and federal governments take or don’t take to preserve the public’s right to know, respond, and vote.

Cibolo’s city council has streamed and recorded video of all meetings including committees like Planning and Zoning. They’ve even held a council meeting completely online to protect everyone’s health while remaining transparent. Some cities aren’t as prepared to be transparent in the midst of the crisis, some are using the crisis as an excuse to avoid public awareness.

Our governor has accepted a delay in the primary runoffs previously scheduled for May 26 now moved to July 14 but we aren’t likely to really be out of the woods and encouraging hundreds of people to stand in lines on election day isn’t good public health practice. There’s a very good chance that it still won’t be safe in November when the general election is scheduled and yet it isn’t realistic to postpone that as both the president and vice-president are constitutionally required to leave office in January regardless of whether or not an election has been held.

Unlike Texas, Wisconsin is full steam ahead for a primary election next Tuesday because of Republican resistance to taking action. On Friday Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, called a special session of the Republican-led state legislature. He summoned lawmakers from the Republican-led chambers to consider legislation to move the primary to mid-May and mandate the use of mail-in absentee ballots for all voters save the disabled, for whom polling stations would remain open exclusively.

Texas should do what many other states have already done and allow every Texan to vote by mail. Current state law provides for voting by mail if the person is 65 or older, disabled, or out of the county during the early voting period as well as election day. All the state legislature has to do is eliminate the qualifications and allow everyone to vote by mail and we can keep our democracy while keeping everyone healthy. Of course that would require the governor to take action, so far he’s shown no interest in doing so.

Of course President Trump isn’t real keen on no excuses vote by mail, he told a Fox News interviewer “that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” Trump is not the only Republican admitting that suppressing voters is good for Republicans but he is the most noticeable one. Georgia state House Speaker David Ralston (R) came out against efforts to allow all voters to vote by mail, saying the move could be “devastating” for Republican candidates.

Democracy is hard, it should be about the contest of ideas not voting rights.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 8, 2020

Why Don't Conservatives Take COVID-19 Seriously?

I’m amazed by the contradictions inherent in people’s reactions to threats. I have trouble understanding how conservatives don’t accept climate change as an existential threat but I know that obfuscation by fossil fuel companies and think tanks and politicians funded by them plays a role. The conservative response to COVID-19 though is just hard for me to explain. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was quoted last weekend projecting 100,000 to 200,000 deaths from COVID 19. Most of those deaths will likely be in those older than 60, Trump’s base so you’d think he and they would take it really seriously.

Republican governors, such as Tate Reeves in Mississippi, have overridden local mayors who had issued stay at home orders put in place to protect their citizens. Some evangelical pastors, like Rev. Tony Spell in Louisiana, are violating local government orders banning large gatherings leading to outbreaks in their flocks. Jerry Falwell, Jr’s Liberty University welcomed its students back from Spring Break, unlike many public schools, only to find several students infected.

Governor Abbott talks out of both sides of his mouth saying that Texas is taking necessary steps to prepare but failing to issue statewide stay at home orders like governors in states that really are taking action with statewide stay at home orders. This weekend he announced  that “the number of Texans hospitalized with COVID-19 is less than 2% of the available hospital bed capacity.” According to state health officials there were 2552 confirmed cases in Texas out of 25,483 tested so Abbott claimed 90% tested negative. That’s nice except that there are over 29 million people in Texas so that means less than one tenth of one percent have even been tested. Let’s not forget that even if you’ve been tested and found to be virus free that doesn’t mean you can’t contract the illness a week or a month later. In addition 37 new cases were found last weekend in Bexar County alone. There’s not nearly enough testing going on in Texas to actually know how we’re doing. On the positive side Abbott did call up three National Guard units to assist with drive through testing and expansion of hospital bed capacity.

Of course you won’t be surprised to learn that the National Rifle Association’s response to the pandemic is to warn that everyone should buy a gun. They’re not suggesting doing so will reduce the spread of the virus, they’re proposition is that the virus will cause a breakdown in society like the Zombie Apocalypse or the Mad Max scenario.

All this and Trump’s latest conspiracy theory is his response to demands from doctors and nurses that more masks and eye protection be made available in which he claims that those same medical professionals who are doing all they can to protect us and care for our ill family and friends just want to steal the masks and eye protection.

It’s beyond me how people such as Trump, Abbott, and Reeves are selected by voters to lead us. November 3^rd can’t come soon enough.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 1, 2020