The positive test rate in Texas has been below 15% for about a month and has been trending down ... for now. https://covidactnow.org/us/texas-tx/?s=1634575
There's a more recent data set for Texas and the rest of the U.S.A. that has Texas Covid-19 test positivity rates around +12% as of yesterday March 3rd. Almost everything is trending down except the Infection Rate...trending upwards but still not bad and its a slow spread. On average, each person in Texas with COVID is infecting 0.96 other people. Because this number is around 1.0, it means that COVID continues to spread, but in a slow and controlled fashion. ------- States ranked by COVID-19 test positivity rates: March 3 Molly Gamble (Twitter) - Updated 22 hours ago Here are the rates of positive COVID-19 tests in each state, along with the number of new cases most recently reported and number of tests conducted per 100,000 people. Data points were last updated March 3. Data for positivity rates and tests are seven-day moving averages. New cases are daily counts as reported by state and the District of Columbia. The information cited is from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. States are arranged in descending order of test positivity rates. Idaho: 23.9 percent positive New daily cases: 374 Tests per 100,000: 62.8 South Dakota: 23.7 New daily cases: 182 Tests per 100,000: 75.5 Iowa: 20.1 New daily cases: 646 Tests per 100,000: 60.7 Alabama: 17.8 New daily cases: 652 Tests per 100,000: 89.3 Kansas: 16.6 New daily cases: 10 Tests per 100,000: 76.5 Mississippi: 14.9 New daily cases: 301 Tests per 100,000: 130.9 Georgia: 13.3 New daily cases: 3,147 Tests per 100,000: 212.6 Texas: 12.3 New daily cases: 7,300 Tests per 100,000: 197.5 Kentucky: 11.1 New daily cases: 1,075 Tests per 100,000: 207.4 Tennessee: 8.7 New daily cases: 644 Tests per 100,000: 217.2 Virginia: 7.7 New daily cases: 1,385 Tests per 100,000: 250.5 Utah: 7.5 New daily cases: 487 Tests per 100,000: 250 New Jersey: 7.1 New daily cases: 3,289 Tests per 100,000: 534.9 Arkansas: 6.9 New daily cases: 440 Tests per 100,000: 438.2 Florida: 6.1 New daily cases: 7,179 Tests per 100,000: 424 Pennsylvania: 5.5 New daily cases: 2,474 Tests per 100,000: 363.2 South Carolina: 5.4 New daily cases: 847 Tests per 100,000: 607.1 Nevada: 5.3 New daily cases: 309 Tests per 100,000: 238.3 North Carolina: 5.2 New daily cases: 1,239 Tests per 100,000: 444.8 Oklahoma: 5 New daily cases: 111 Tests per 100,000: 343.7 Ohio: 4.9 New daily cases: 0 Tests per 100,000: 310 Delaware: 4.7 New daily cases: 113 Tests per 100,000: 610.7 Colorado: 4.1 New daily cases: 776 Tests per 100,000: 496.8 Michigan: 3.9 New daily cases: 1,642 Tests per 100,000: 343 Montana: 3.7 New daily cases: 155 Tests per 100,000: 402.6 New Hampshire: 3.6 New daily cases: 215 Tests per 100,000: 542 Arizona: 3.6 New daily cases: 849 Tests per 100,000: 438 Washington: 3.6 New daily cases: 733 Tests per 100,000: 300.4 Wyoming: 3.6 New daily cases: 56 Tests per 100,000: 403.4 Minnesota: 3.4 New daily cases: 425 Tests per 100,000: 416.4 Missouri: 3.3 New daily cases: 373 Tests per 100,000: 202.3 Nebraska: 3.3 New daily cases: 400 Tests per 100,000: 437.5 West Virginia: 3.2 New daily cases: 136 Tests per 100,000: 502.2 Louisiana: 3.2 New daily cases: 767 Tests per 100,000: 499.5 North Dakota: 3.1 New daily cases: 105 Tests per 100,000: 324.5 New York: 3.1 New daily cases: 6,381 Tests per 100,000: 1,210.3 Connecticut: 2.9 New daily cases: 502 Tests per 100,000: 880.6 District of Columbia: 2.9 New daily cases: 83 Tests per 100,000: 652.6 New Mexico: 2.7 New daily cases: 245 Tests per 100,000: 560.9 Maryland: 2.4 New daily cases: 468 Tests per 100,000: 538.3 Indiana: 2.4 New daily cases: 537 Tests per 100,000: 510 Illinois: 2.4 New daily cases: 1,569 Tests per 100,000: 578.5 California: 2.3 New daily cases: 4,417 Tests per 100,000: 500.3 Rhode Island: 2.2 New daily cases: 261 Tests per 100,000: 1,611.3 Wisconsin: 2.1 New daily cases: 607 Tests per 100,000: 561.5 Maine: 1.8 New daily cases: 181 Tests per 100,000: 718.1 Alaska: 1.7 New daily cases: 155 Tests per 100,000: 1,000.5 Massachusetts: 1.7 New daily cases: 301 Tests per 100,000: 1,358.7 Vermont: 1.4 New daily cases: 88 Tests per 100,000: 1,139.9 Oregon: 1.1 New daily cases: 250 Tests per 100,000: 847.7 Hawaii: 0.8 New daily cases: 33 Tests per 100,000: 509.4 wrbtrader
It will be interesting to see if Texas gets better or worse after this. If it gets worse - even coincidentally - expect renewed pushes towards "mask mandates work" narrative. if it does not get worse or improves, except the "open up now" narrative to gain a significant case study.
COVID and all of it's machinations will be with us for decades. In 8-9 months, it will be noted as one of those "you have to get it every year" shots for it to be effective. Like the flu shots we are supposed to get every year. But with this thing, because it is so deadly, we will be masked and socially-distanced for decades to come. Life will never be pre-covid. EVER. Thank you social media!
I remember my first debates about Covid-19 in which those i debated with here at Elitetrader.com early in the Pandemic... I talked about mutations (variants) will rise when vaccinations are discover or on the verge of discovery...it will result in a yearly or two yearly Covid-19 shot but life will go on. Sometimes mutations cause a virus to be less dangerous and sometimes it causes a virus to be more deadly via antigenic drift (more frequent) and antigenic shift (less frequent)... Antigenic Shift...reason why countries need to minimize travel or close borders for awhile during Pandemics. These types of variants cause Pandemics or cause Pandemics to last longer. Most people think that vaccination will be one shot and your done deal and life then goes back to normal...easily forgetting the scenario about the Flu shot and forgetting how spread happens very fast during a Pandemic. This is a new virus...too many unknowns about its ability to quickly produce mutations (variants)...increasing the importance of Therapeutics especially those that travel. This is just the nature of global Pandemics...variants will pop up in different countries because viruses are very good at survival. They know when its time to get out of town and then know when its time to return with a new coat of armor. Those with mild symptoms or strong immune systems...inadvertently help trigger the antigenic drift and antigenic shift. Here's the thing, our immune system will eventually adapt too. Thus, after the mass (global) vaccinations...people may not need to get a yearly Covid-19 shot...they'll just go to their local pharmaceutical store and get some Covid-19 syrup / pill form when they fill sick...miss a few days of work and then return back to work. Only the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions will be at risk but Covid-19 will still spread easily to them from those with no symptoms or very little symptoms. My point, to truly keep Covid-19 in control...it's going to take a lot more than just vaccinations because of those mutations (variants). Therefore, we're also going to need easily available therapeutics for self-treatment...that's easily affordable...at any store that sells medicine for cold / flu / bad cough. In addition, people will need to change their attitude and be more respectful about feeling sick (sneezing / coughing / congested) and mask up to prevent spreading their germs to others....very similar to Asian cultures. I remember my first day in Seoul, Korea when I was in the military and living off base...many many years ago. In my "Seoul Awareness" material for soldiers...it was often written about wearing a face mask when feeling sick (sniffles, congested, cough) and washing hands... It was being respectful to those around you. Ironically, some of these deadly Pandemics begin in Asia. In contrast, in western cultures...we are taught to just mainly cough into our hands but if you're a gentlemen / lady...cough into a handkerchief...sneeze into tissue paper / paper towel but forgetting that we breath the same air after the sneeze, cough, talking, yelling or singing. That's very problematic because how many times do you see people (before Covid-19) that just go to work, go to breakfast / dinner with friends, go to school with just a sniffle or cold...OFTEN...the first sniffle / cough is into our hands because it comes out of nowhere. After that, small percentage will wash their hands. Simply, western cultures are trained from a young age to spread diseases and are very reluctant to wear a face mask...its not part of our culture even when we are being exposed to a very deadly virus. We'll rather debate on social media about how dangerous it is to wear a face mask (safety issues) or it they work at all while Asian cultures have been wearing face masks since the 50's... Giving them the ability to quickly control respiratory infections. Minimizing the damage to their economy, public health system, education system and to their mental well-being. Vaccinations plus Therapeutics are the Keys to those reluctant to change. We'll never return to normal with just one of the above. wrbtrader
With the exception of mask wearing inside major establishments, we've been "pre-covid" for quite a while here in Florida.
Recent studies show strong evidence that Mask Mandates work... Governors who eliminate mask mandates now for political performance are merely trying to kill the residents of their state to gain points in the the polls Study finds mask mandates, dining out influence virus spread March 5, 2021 https://apnews.com/article/rochelle-walensky-coronavirus-pandemic-fe2e65c19506b99ebdb8f1e0badc846b A new national study adds strong evidence that mask mandates can slow the spread of the coronavirus, and that allowing dining at restaurants can increase cases and deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Friday. “All of this is very consistent,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing on Friday. “You have decreases in cases and deaths when you wear masks, and you have increases in cases and deaths when you have in-person restaurant dining.” The study was released just as some states are rescinding mask mandates and restaurant limits. Earlier this week, Texas became the biggest state to lift its mask rule, joining a movement by many governors to loosen COVID-19 restrictions despite pleas from health officials. “It’s a solid piece of work that makes the case quite strongly that in-person dining is one of the more important things that needs to be handled if you’re going to control the pandemic,” said William Hanage, a Harvard University expert on disease dynamics who was not involved in the study. The new research builds on smaller CDC studies, including one that found that people in 10 states who became infected in July were more likely to have dined at a restaurant and another that found mask mandates in 10 states were associated with reductions in hospitalizations. The CDC researchers looked at U.S. counties placed under state-issued mask mandates and at counties that allowed restaurant dining — both indoors and at tables outside. The study looked at data from March through December of last year. The scientists found that mask mandates were associated with reduced coronavirus transmission, and that improvements in new cases and deaths increased as time went on. The reductions in growth rates varied from half a percentage point to nearly 2 percentage points. That may sound small, but the large number of people involved means the impact grows with time, experts said. “Each day that growth rate is going down, the cumulative effect — in terms of cases and deaths — adds up to be quite substantial,” said Gery Guy Jr., a CDC scientist who was the study’s lead author. Reopening restaurant dining was not followed by a significant increase in cases and deaths in the first 40 days after restrictions were lifted. But after that, there were increases of about 1 percentage point in the growth rate of cases and — later — 2 to 3 percentage points in the growth rate of deaths. The delay could be because restaurants didn’t re-open immediately and because many customers may have been hesitant to dine in right after restrictions were lifted, Guy said. Also, there’s always a lag between when people are infected and when they become ill, and longer to when they end up in the hospital and die. In the case of dining out, a delay in deaths can also be caused by the fact that the diners themselves may not die, but they could get infected and then spread it to others who get sick and die, Hanage said. “What happens in a restaurant doesn’t stay in a restaurant,” he said. CDC officials stopped short of saying that on-premises dining needs to stop. But they said if restaurants do open, they should follow as many prevention measures as possible, like promoting outdoor dining, having adequate indoor ventilation, masking employees and calling on customers to wear masks whenever they aren’t eating or drinking. The study had limitations. For example, the researchers tried to make calculations that accounted for other policies, such as bans on mass gatherings or bar closures, that might influence case and death rates. But the authors acknowledged that they couldn’t account for all possible influences — such as school re-openings. “It’s always very, very hard to thoroughly nail down the causal relationships,” Hanage said. “But when you take this gathered with all the other stuff we know about the virus, it supports the message” of the value of mask wearing and the peril of restaurant dining, he added.
Gov. Abbott never told the Texas Department of Public Health that he was ending state's mask mandate https://www.alternet.org/2021/03/go...states-mask-mandate-until-he-did-report-says/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) this week announced his plan to repeal a mask mandate and fully reopen the state. And according to Click 2 Houston, that decision is one the Republican governor did not discuss with Texas' Department of Public Health. Three out of four of Abbott's medical advisors have confirmed that he "did not directly consult with them prior to the drastic shift in policy," according to Click 2 Houston. James Huffines, the fourth member of Abbott's medical advisory team who has served as a chair of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, said decisions were made based on hard scientific facts. Every recommendation, every action by the governor will be informed and based on hard data and the expertise of our chief medical advisers," Huffines said at the time. "Everything we do will be medically sound. These nationally recognized advisers are leading experts in their fields and we will rely on their knowledge and expertise every step of the way." Dr. Mark McClellan, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Duke-Margolis Center director for Health Policy at Duke University, pushed back against Abbott's decision as he admitted that ending the mask mandate too soon could have serious consequences. "I don't think this is the right time," McClellan said in a statement. "Texas has been making some real progress but it's too soon for full reopening and to stop masking around others." The pushback against Abbott's decision comes as the state ranks 49th in COVID-19 vaccine distribution. While Abbott is pushing to expedite the full reopening of the state, Texans are still facing substantial difficulties in receiving the vaccine. As of Thursday, March 4, the state of Texas has reported more than 2.6 million coronavirus cases and 44,708 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Texas now ranks as the second-hardest hit state in the U.S.
Let's see what Beto is saying... to be fair I believe he is targeting the governorship of Texas next. ‘This Isn’t Hyperbole’: Beto O’Rourke Says Officials ‘Literally Want To Sacrifice’ Texans To Reopen https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/03/beto-orourke-officials-literally-sacrifice-texans-reopen/