At least three of the Texas Democrats who took a field trip this week to Washington, D.C., have potentially infected others after they themselves tested positive for COVID-19. Gosh, I hope no one else falls ill due to their reckless behavior.
Were they not following the science? We’re still in the middle of a pandemic, after all, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control still mandates that everyone flying commercial wear a mask.
But they didn’t wear masks when dozens of them took a flight out of Texas last week in order to prevent the legislature from voting on election security bills. They snapped plenty of selfies for social media to document the trip.
We don’t know who the infected Democrats are, but the Texas House Democratic Caucus announced Saturday that between that day and the day before, three had in fact tested positive. The Houston Chronicle reported that they all had traveled to Washington.
I worry about who else they may have put at risk of their deadly illness. The Caucus claimed that all infected members have been vaccinated. But don’t they know new variants are spreading and The Science on the efficacy of our current vaccines against those mutations is not yet settled?
The CDC further warns that vaccinated individuals “can be less likely to spread the virus to others,” but that’s not a 100 percent guarantee.
The Texas House Democratic Caucus said the news of their infected members “is a sober reminder that COVID is still with us.”
Did anyone need a reminder? No, we knew. This isn’t a reminder. This is selfish and negligent behavior. Where were their masks? Why didn’t they Stay Home?
Gene Wu and other Texas representatives documented their trip on social media with pictures showing them traveling in groups all over Washington, from cafeterias to monuments to crowded press conferences.
There’s only one way to catch COVID — from someone else. This isn’t something that just happened. This was caused by behavior we’ve been incessantly told is high-risk. (Not to mention, some of the members appeared to be plus sizes and obesity is considered a high-risk factor for COVID-19.)
The Texas Democrats could have Hunkered Down at home, just A Little Longer. They instead chose to fly across the country for political purposes, which does not help Stop The Spread. Now they’ve caught the highly contagious, airborne virus and potentially exposed countless others while on their trip. I hope they didn’t infect anyone who might be high risk.
The Texas Democrats weren’t wearing masks. They weren’t Social Distancing.
Why weren’t they Following The Science?
