It was nearly a month ago that Governor Greg Abbott made the big announcement. Texas was going to re-open to 100%, and the state mask mandate was lifted.
To say the criticism was harsh would be an understatement. It was supposed to be the beginning of the end.
But here we are a month later, and not only has Texas -not- had another surge or spike. The Covid numbers have been plummeting across the board. Weekly and daily.
And yet for some reason, Harris County remains at code red, even though California this week dropped down to code orange.
So the question remains, why is Harris County still at code red?
It's a question that only Judge Lina Hidalgo can answer, and unfortunately she's not talking. KTRH has reached out to the Judge and her office multiple times, but she refuses to comment.
It's a very fair question, especially considering that when the numbers were rising, and the news was negative, the Judge was holding a press conference almost every day.
But now, in what should be a time of joy, not a word.
Dr. Robin Armstrong did speak with KTRH and said unfortunately, our local leaders have politicized the pandemic. "Since Texas is a red state they'd love to win some offices, and so they're going to carry this out as long as we can. But we certainly should not be red at this point."
As for the Covid numbers dropping? Dr. Armstrong has had a first hand look and says, "I'm seeing much less Covid, both here in Texas and nationally." "The numbers look great right now."
Positivity rates, hospitalizations, and deaths are all down across the board. And with almost all adults set to be eligible for the vaccine, Dr. Armstrong believes that Covid could be behind us by the summer. "Probably by the end of the month close to 30% of Texas will be vaccinated. The decline is taking place now, and hopefully by the end of the summer this will all be over with and we can put Covid 19 in the rearview mirror."
Maybe the Judge and the Mayor will even hold a news conference.