What I would give for us to actually communicate clearly enough with folks to ask them to do their own contact tracing. Texas never asked. We just left people on their to figure out in the midst of shifting guidelines and confusions about what constituted an exposure 2/
We abdicated our responsibility. There were many people fighting for a different outcome, but we were not successful and therefore more people are dying.
We didn’t neglect our public health systems; we dismantled them & didn’t have the infrastructure we needed in a crisis. 3/
And instead of seeing the mistake and trying to correct, we’ve had folks avoiding responsibility by blaming whomever else was in view, and we’ve consistently outsourced the work of managing the crisis to private companies. 4/
So here we are, once again, hoping that private companies will figure out a decent vaccine distribution system since the State of Texas sure hasn’t.
But that means it will be disparate and confusing and hard for our constituents to navigate. 5/
I’ve been hearing from folks all day who’ve spent hours calling pharmacies and doctor’s offices trying to get a vaccine, almost all with no luck, all because we didn’t build a centralized system for them to use. And this is going to result in massive inequities. 6/
The people who get COVID most often and have the worst outcomes? Low income folks of color. The people who are overwhelmingly going to get vaccine first under this decentralized system that takes medical literacy and hours to burn to navigate? Wealthy white people. 7/
It’s wrong. It’s the obvious consequence of neglecting our public health institutions.
Good folks are working in public health and doing their best for us. But they’re running up against toxic politics and a generation of stripping their resources away. We have to fix it. 8/8
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Let’s talk for a second about dropping off mail in ballots here in Hays County.
First off, the rule/practice as it is today: To vote absentee, you have two choices. Drop your ballot in the mail OR bring it to the Hays County Government Center in San Marcos & present an ID. 1/x
Sent your ballot in and want to make sure it’s received? Check here, first link at the top: hayscountytx.com/departments/el…
Hays County has an election administrator (instead of clerk running election), which gave them less legal flexibility to attempt multiple drop off locations. 2/x
So Hays County was *not* impacted the Gov’s most recent order. Instead I was hoping that he’d clarify that we *could* have more drop-off locations. County commissioners, both R and D, were open to it, but our election administrator was advised against by SOS. 3/x
I’m really appreciating @TexasDSHS Chief Dr. John Hellerstedt’s update to legislators today. A summary:
1. We are seeing an encouraging downward trend in hospitalizations. We’re not out of the woods, but it’s encouraging. Things are still worse in south Texas. 1/x
2. This virus is just as dangerous as predicted. If we assume 5 million Texans have had COVID (a very high estimate), then it going through 1/6 of the population still resulted in some hospitals being overwhelmed. We can’t handle the virus quickly going through the other 5/6. 2/x
3. What we’re doing is starting to work, but now is definitely *not* the time to stop. Keep social distancing, keep wearing masks, keep washing your hands, and hopefully we’ll see the trends continue. If we let up, it *will* get worse again. 3/x
Hays County’s “Emergency Cash Assistance Program (ECAP)” has $600k available for small businesses in Hays County who are struggling from the effects of COVID-19,
and who were unable to secure federal funding through the Payroll Protection Program (CARES Act) or the SBA’s EIDL program.
2/
The Hays County ECAP is the result of a coordinated effort between the Greater San Marcos Partnership, PeopleFund, and the cities of Dripping Springs, Kyle, Buda, San Marcos & Wimberley.
3/
Here is House District 45's daily case count as of 6:30 pm Central, July 27th, 2020 per the CDC, Texas Department of State Health Services, Hays County Health Department, and Blanco County Emergency Management.
Beginning today, DSHS began using the cause of death listed on death certificates to identify COVID-19 fatalities.
Going forward, a fatality is counted as due to COVID-19 when the medical certifier (usually a physician with knowledge of the patient) determines that COVID-19 directly caused death. This method does not include deaths of people who had COVID-19 but died of an unrelated cause.
The Texas Armed Services Scholarship Program was created by the Texas Legislature to encourage students to become Texas and U.S. service members. Each year, every State Representative may appoint one student to receive an initial conditional scholarship award.
Eligible applicants must meet the TASSP Requirements by enrolling in a TX public or private accredited institution of higher ed, committing to four years of training by the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program and planning to enter the armed services upon graduation.
Additionally, nominees must also meet two of the four academic criteria listed in the graphic below.
For consideration, submit your application (resume & one-page letter of interest) electronically to: District45.Zwiener@house.texas.gov
(1/5) Folks, please see the letter that I sent to TEA today. The agency's plans for schools to hold in-person instruction and to administer the STAAR test for the 20 - 21 school year do not appropriately take into account current health conditions across the state of Texas.
(2/5) While I am eager for students to return to a normal educational setting, it has become increasingly clear that the upcoming school year will be anything but.
(3/5) I do not want our schools to reopen for in-person learning only to close again, an outcome that seems inevitable at the current COVID-19 caseloads.