![](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/210729135223-01-gov-greg-abbott-0608-super-tease.jpg)
Yes, you read that right. Even as Abbott was testing positive for Covid-19, his administration continued to work to keep local jurisdictions from requiring people to wear masks.
There’s a lesson in all of this for Abbott — although he’s unlikely to see it due to his own political considerations.
And that lesson goes like this: Masks work. So do other mitigation practices like social distancing and limiting large gatherings.
On top of all of that, there’s this from The New York Times on Tuesday:
“Since Americans first began rolling up their sleeves for coronavirus vaccines, health officials have said that those who are immunized are very unlikely to become infected, or to suffer serious illness or death. But preliminary data from seven states hint that the arrival of the Delta variant in July may have altered the calculus.
“Breakthrough infections in vaccinated people accounted for at least one in five newly diagnosed cases in six of these states and higher percentages of total hospitalizations and deaths than had been previously observed in all of them, according to figures gathered by The New York Times.”
What’s maddening is that despite that established science, there’s no way — because, well, politics — that Abbott’s own experience with Covid-19 changes his mind about kids wearing masks in school or other proven mitigation measures.
Thanks to former President Donald Trump, masking became a political issue — and remains one. That didn’t have to be the case. But wearing a mask — or getting the Covid-19 vaccine — is about public health, not politics.
It’s not about freedom — we have never had the freedom to endanger others knowingly — but rather about civic responsibility. We are all in this together, and the actions of one impact many.
That elected officials like Abbott continue to prioritize political calculation over public health is deeply disappointing and, candidly, selfish.