Governor Abbott’s decision to reopen Texas

A. Texan Governor Greg Abbott’s announced on Tuesday, March 2nd that all statewide masking requirements in public spaces will be lifted and that all businesses will be allowed to reopen beginning March 10. Individual place of businesses may impose safety and capacity limit protocols on their premises as they see fit. Questions (Answer each question). USE AS MUCH STATISTICAL EVIDENCE AND CITES AS YOU CAN 1. Do you believe that Governor Abbott’s decision to reopen Texas makes sense? 2. What do you think his motivation are? 3. Given the statistics below do you think that the Governor is being driven by science and quantitative metrics? If you were an public health administrator what evidence based advice would you give the Texan Governor? Would you compare Texan COVID metrics to other states and the national averages?   5% of COVID infected persons will become critically ill and require hospitalization. 1.5-2% of COVID infected persons will succumb and die of complications associated with the disease. New Infections: Ideal Less than 10 per day Threshold Positivity Rate: Less than 5% indicates containment. Above 10% undesirable, no containment, ICU hospital resources could be overwhelmed. Ideal: Positivity rate less than 1 percent and approaching zero in a steady manner. B. Governor Albert Bryan announced on March 1, 2021 that beaches will remain open until 5 pm , not 4 pm, and that taxis can go above 50% capacity if the party are all family members. Masking requirements will continue and all other social distancing rules. The USVI currently has 110 active COVID cases, 5 hospitalizations, a 7 day moving infection average of 10, death rate remains steady at 25, and an unavailable 7 day positivity rate. Moreover, 6,786 persons have been fully vaccinated, (6.5% of total population vaccinated) ,50% of the doses shipped to the VI have been administered, Qestions (answer each one) USE AS MUCH STATISTICAL EVIDENCE AND CITES AS YOU CAN 1. Given the statistical information available do you think that Governor’s actions are justified and follow science and material evidence? 2. Feel free to do another research, gather more COVID related statistics for both Texas and the USVI as well as the economic costs of restrictions and the interrelation between economic growth and the public health crisis.