A Texan, mourning the death of one of the state’s GOP leadership, H. Scott Apley, from an infection of the COVID-19 virus, blames the party for the death and calls on it to change its tune.
In the Houston Chronicle, John Cobarruvias said this in a letter to the editor of The Daily News of Galveston:
Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott, state Reps. Dennis Paul, Mayes Middleton and Briscoe Cain and all the other Republican elected officials are responsible for his death. They could have acted like adults, embraced science, and stopped every Republican from spreading false information or downplaying the virus and the vaccination.
Abbott didn’t have the courage to tell Trump to stop. Our state representatives didn’t have the courage to tell Abbott to stop. None of them told their executive board members, like Apley, to stop, and now he’s dead leaving a wife, who’s also infected, and an infant child.
He’s not alone. Polls show most Americans, including a growing number of Republicans, want the party to shut up in their effort to discredit the virus, mask up and help fight the pandemic that is escalating again with its new variant called “delta.”
News report in Texas and around the nation say Apley refused vaccination, like many members of his party’s leadership. “He was against the government forcing people to get vaccinated.”
As a child, I stood in line to get vaccinated against polio, a government mandate back in the 1950s and one that brought an end to the disease that disabled and killed millions. You can’t drive a car legally without a government-mandated driver’s license. Government requirements are part of life in a so-called “civilized” society.
Mandating a vaccination is considered a proven way to reduce the chances of death from a coronavirus. It might not stop getting infected, but the symptoms don’t usually require hospitalization or death unless a serious underlying condition exists.
Gov. Greg Abbott came down with COVID-19 five days ago, right in the middle of a fight with school districts over requiring masks in schools. Despite his illness, he still opposed mask mandates or capacity limits in Texas, where cases are increasing at an alarming rate.
Fortunately for students, teachers and staff, the Texas Supreme Court allowed school districts to impose mask mandates and blocked Abbott from punishing any who do.
In Florida, also overrun with new Covid cases, most school districts ignored GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’ threat to punish those who take steps to protect students. Polls show growing anger over the governor’s antics.
One school superintendent publicly told DeSantis to “go to hell” over his efforts to put students and teachers in danger.
Amen.