Just over two weeks after Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifted coronavirus orders allowing companies to operate at 100 percent capacity and made masks optional, the red state is still reporting reductions in cases and hospitalizations.
The governor defended his state’s success in a tweet on Friday night, saying, “Today, Texas recorded the lowest 7-day COVID positivity rate since data began to be calculated: 5.43%” .
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“We also recorded the highest daily number of vaccines administered to Texans: 342,849. More Texans receiving vaccines will keep the positivity rate low,” he said, adding that receiving the vaccine “has always been voluntary.”
Texas reported 2,239 new infections on Saturday, about 500 fewer cases on average the week before, according to data from the state health department.
Biden criticized Abbott’s decision – which was soon followed by similar Mississippi mandate removals – as “Neanderthal thinking”.
“We were able to move this by the end of May to have enough [vaccines] for every American, to make every adult American have a chance, “Biden told White House reporters earlier this month.” The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking.
As states have increased the number of vaccines administered in people’s arms, health officials have warned states against suspending protection measures too quickly, as the extremely contagious variants of the coronavirus are increasing.
“We were able to move this by the end of May to have enough [vaccines] for every American, to make every adult American have a chance, “Biden told White House reporters on Wednesday.” The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking.
While Texas reported a decrease in the number of cases, the country reported an increase of 7% over the previous week, with an average of about 7,000 new cases per day, said the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, at a press conference at the White House on Friday.
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“I remain deeply concerned about this trajectory,” said Walensky. “We have seen cases and hospital admissions move from historic declines to stagnations and increases. We know from previous outbreaks that if we do not control things now, there is real potential for the epidemic curve to rise again.”
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Walensky said the United States is vaccinating 2.5 million people a day, with more than 140 million doses administered so far – a trend that means that most of the US population can be vaccinated by mid-June, if not problems with vaccine production and distribution.
“Keep wearing your tight-fitting mask and taking public health measures now that we know you can reverse these worrying trends,” concluded the director.