If you want to know how soft-opening the country during a global pandemic is going to go, look no further than the great state of Texas.
On May 1, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) allowed some businesses to reopen, and since then, Texas has only had two days where they didn’t reach 1,000 new coronavirus cases—May 4 and May 7—and five consecutive days of at least 1,000 new cases, the Hill reports.
“According to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services, 1,179 new cases were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Lone Star State to 41,048,” the Hill reports.
And this is exactly what Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Tom Brady of infectious disease doctors, warned while appearing before the Senate Health Committee. During his testimony, Dr. Fauci noted that reopening too soon could lead to “needless suffering and death.”
“The consequences could be really serious,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the committee, the Hill reports.
Texas, being the asshole state that it is, didn’t even try to reach the White House benchmark of waiting until they had at least “a 14-day consecutive decline in daily new COVID-19 cases before beginning to reopen,” the Hill reports.
Also on Tuesday, the same day that 1,179 new cases were reported, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) warned cities not to implement their own coronavirus guidelines to protect citizens because the state government had spoken.
“Unfortunately, a few Texas counties and cities seem to have confused recommendations with requirements and have grossly exceeded state law to impose their own will on private citizens and businesses. These letters seek to avoid any public confusion as we reopen the state,” Paxton said in a statement, the Hill reports. “I trust that local officials will act quickly to correct any orders that unlawfully conflict with Texas law and Governor Abbott’s Executive Orders.”
As it stands, more than 1,100 Texans have died from the virus, but why would that stop an asshole from being an asshole—and the entire state of Texas is an asshole.