Effective March 10, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced an executive order that would lift some restrictions, which were originally meant to keep COVID-19 from spreading. As a result, there is no longer a mask mandate in the state of Texas, and businesses can now operate at 100% capacity.

To me, it’s a no-brainer. Lives are further at risk because of this action, which makes it a bad decision. Now, people don’t have the government to protect them from people who don’t wear masks, which could cause division among people. No masks plus no limit to the number of people in an indoor space equals the superspreading of COVID-19.

Maybe I’m too liberal. Maybe I don’t know what it feels like to lose my business to COVID-19. Maybe I didn’t struggle with unemployment nearly as hard as others. Either way, Abbott made a nonsensical, politically-charged decision that could cost many lives and cause division among Texans. This is something I want to try and understand.

What were the motives behind this decision?

According to the official website of the governor of Texas, Abbott said, “With the medical advancements of vaccines and antibody therapeutic drugs, Texas now has the tools to protect Texans from the virus.”

The vaccine seems to be one of the primary motivators of this, which is understandable— a vaccine can bring a strong, symbolic feeling of hope. That symbolism makes it seem like an all-good. Like in a zombie movie, a vaccine is made and all is good. The plot resolves. Symbolism is meaningful.

However, the vaccine’s symbolism alone isn’t worth putting lives at risk. According to state profile report on vaccine rollout per state from the CDC, as of March 12, only 9.8% of the state of Texas has been vaccinated completely, which means both doses of teh Pfizer vaccine. The executive order was given based on data from at least a week and a half ago as well.

To me, one out of every 10 people being unable to get COVID-19 isn’t enough to reopen businesses completely and remove the mask mandate. As long as the number of people who can get COVID-19 is greater than the amount vaccinated, lives are highly at stake.

Well, what about all the small businesses that need to reopen and make money?

Such a simple question that is so complicated. During a crisis such as this, where an unexpected phenomenon affects every single citizen in the world, the least the government can do is be the foundation that supports its citizens and businesses until the crisis is over. That’s all we expect from the government— to be there when its people need them.

If businesses, small businesses especially, have continued to struggle throughout the whole pandemic, even to the point where they have closed, maybe the U.S. government didn’t give as much support as they could’ve. The recent COVID-19 relief bill that was passed hopefully proves me wrong. If there were programs put in place to support everyone affected by the pandemic from the very start, this wouldn’t be a problem.

Is reopening businesses at max capacity really worth the lives of many? To me, no. To others, maybe. There could’ve been some compromise about the capacity to keep business owners safe as well, but sadly, there wasn’t.

Imagine you have a small business in Texas where you still require masks and a group of patrons with no masks walks in. What do you do? Tell them to put on a mask? The safety of your restaurant and employees has already been compromised. COVID-19 spreads quickly, especially with new variants coming out. Small businesses now have to make the crucial choice about whether or not to require masks despite the mask mandate being lifted at the cost of losing business and their health.

COVID-19 has left us with a bunch of questions with no concrete answer.

The problem of people wearing masks versus people who aren’t, applies to many. A person just walks up to you without a mask on and boom, your chances of contracting COVID-19 have increased.

Also during his address, Abbott said, “Continue to practice the safe practices that will ensure we will be able to get everybody back to work with Texas continuing to lead the United States of America in economic growth and job creation.”

He addresses the fact that he gave people the OK to not wear masks but subtly tells people to “practice the safe practices,” which means wear masks and wash hands, etc, etc. Understandably, politicians often say obscure lines that passively cover up the faults in their decisions. In this case, the fault is people not wearing masks and endangering others in public spaces.

After the executive order, there was an official “mask burning” gathering, or party of sorts, in Dallas that was hosted by the Dallas Jewish Conservatives group.

According to the article, more than 200 people were expected to attend. Interesting that so many people are gathering maskless, but it was outdoors. The airflow of an open space definitely doesn’t allow COVID-19 to spread.

“I felt it was an opportunity for my fellow conservative Texans and freedom-loving Americans to come together and celebrate,” said Benji Gershon, president and founder of Dallas Jewish Conservatives. The bonfire “is symbolic of freedom, and it’s symbolic of the fact that the mask represents government control.”

This quote is directly from an interview after the event and addresses some points about the freedom aspect behind the mask mandate being lifted.

Basically, the government implementing a mask mandate for the safety of Americans across the country is imposing upon their civil liberties. Well, Gershon isn’t wrong, but he also isn’t right. Because it does technically impose upon anyone’s civil liberties, but is it really that imposing if there is literally no downside to wearing a mask? Sure, your breathing is slightly worse and there is a very small group of people who literally cannot breathe with masks on, but masks are meant for our safety.

Shouldn’t wearing your mask for the safety of yourself and other Americans while we trudge through the pandemic be patriotic? You do it for the safety of your country. Or maybe not, according to this fun bonfire get-together.

All in all, only time will show us how Abbott’s executive order will affect the lives of Texans. Despite my disagreement, a lot of insight has been given about this topic that helped me further understand the executive order. I hope I’m proven completely wrong and Abbot’s decision turns out to be right and well-informed.

Logan Sriharatsa can be reached at srih1201@stthomas.edu.