LUBBOCK, Texas — For a while, it seemed that the coronavirus had spared West Texas. Cases were low. Few had died. Concern through the spring was focused on getting businesses running again.
For those Texans, trust in government is gone, if it was there to begin with, and that includes some of the state’s top leaders. On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas declared himself tired of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor.That sentiment was echoed outside a popular, newly opened hamburger restaurant in Wolfforth, Texas, just outside Lubbock, where even Abbott, a Republican, came under harsh criticism.
Such attitudes present a daunting challenge for local leaders trying to contain a resurgent outbreak, especially in solidly Republican areas, where mandatory public health measures can generate swift opposition. “I’m clean as far as our health department goes; I just think in an abundance of caution — I don’t want to be the guy,” Pope said. “I’m asking our people to act this way. Why wouldn’t I act that same way?”
“There’s a lot of frustration that the governor is not giving our nation a contrasted worldview to that of California or New York,” said Luke Macias, a conservative Republican political consultant in Texas who said that Abbott had not offered a conservative vision of how to deal with the crisis. “With Abbott, he’s tried to have his cake and eat it too; he wants to not protect your individual liberty and then say he is.
Ellison said she was defying the state’s order again and keeping her bar open. She has joined a statewide lawsuit over the governor’s closures. In Lubbock, the shutdown of bars left a usually bustling strip near the Texas Tech campus devoid of all activity Wednesday evening, even as parking lots filled outside gyms elsewhere in town. Several local bars have said they would not reopen.
While many residents expressed confidence that they would not be infected, others were more concerned. Still, it has been a challenge to get people to self-quarantine, she said. And the virus has since spread more broadly into the community, cropping up again in at least one nursing home.
Several big-city Democrat mayors and top officials are acknowledging that weeks of anti-police protests and riots may have contributed to surging coronavirus rates.
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