FORT WORTH, Texas — The other morning, a friend from Washington, D.C., sent me an exasperated text with a link to the new vaccine passport requirements for our nation’s capital.
As of Jan. 15, those older than 12 must present proof of vaccination as well as proof of identification (if 18 or older) to enter most public establishments, and of course, must wear a mask in all indoor settings.
The District of Columbia is following in the pioneering footsteps of other major metropolises like New York City and Chicago, where vaccine passport systems have been implemented and had — wait for it — no discernible effect on COVID-19 transmission or hospitalization rates.
Indeed, the populations in New York and Washington are already highly vaccinated and regularly using masks, yet their infection curves are upward-pointing vertical lines.
To the extent that they ever worked, the virus mitigation efforts we’ve been clinging to no longer seem effective. But when has that stopped political leaders and public health officials from doubling down and supporting even more draconian measures?
Thankfully, in certain parts of the country, it has. And we’re lucky to live in one of them.
Texas re-opened last spring and never looked back.
It has resisted state and school mask mandates, largely insisted on in-person educational instruction wherever possible, and eschewed workplace vaccine mandates (which, thankfully, the Supreme Court struck down).
Life is closer to normal, which has all kinds of implications for emotional health and well-being – considerations that leaders in parts of the country have set aside these last two years, especially when it comes to children who have borne the brunt of deleterious masking and quarantining policies.
Bari Weiss, the former New York Times columnist and co-founder of the fledgling University of Austin, Bari Weiss, quipped that folks in Texas and Florida “are probably patting yourself on the backs for your wise life choices.”
Pat, pat, pat.
“But for many of us in America,” she continued, “our lives are still being controlled by the pandemic.”
To be fair, Texas’ infection curve doesn’t look dissimilar from that of New York, New Jersey or Washington, D.C. – or anywhere else in the country, for that matter.
Cases have shot up dramatically all over the country, stretching the creative (and space) limits of graph makers everywhere.
We have the highly contagious omicron and “leaky” vaccines, that prevent serious illness but not transmission, to thank for that.
And it’s caused all manner of challenges, from staffing shortages in hospitals, schools and other businesses, largely the result of quarantines that are keeping mildly ill and sometimes perfectly healthy people out of the workplace.
No, things aren’t perfect here in Texas.
For many of us, COVID still looms large in the background of everyday life.
But unlike New York or Washington, D.C., we are far from being controlled by the virus or the public-policy response to it.
If you compare the quality of life in a place like Fort Worth to a place like New York City, there is no contest at all.
And despite the vastly different rules and precautions, the virus is behaving much the same.
But if you want to contrast outcomes, the death rate (deaths per 1 million residents) in New York is far greater than that in Texas.
Even the number of cases in New York right now dwarfs that of the Lone Star State.
All this nearly a year after Texas’ decision to lift restrictions was called “Neanderthal” ways by a president who has yet to make good on his promise to “shut down” the virus.
Easier said than done. Leading in pandemic times is a lot harder than anyone (including President Joe Biden) anticipated.
But living in a pandemic is a lot more pleasant in a place like Texas, where our response to it isn’t controlling our lives.
