A North Texas Democrat—citing incomplete data that doesn’t report recoveries from the Chinese coronavirus—wants all Americans forced to wear a mask, pitting himself directly against President Donald Trump.
On June 19, Dallas’ Democrat County Judge Clay Jenkins passed a mask mandate requiring businesses to require customers to wear masks, or the business itself will pay the consequences.
Since then, he’s pushed not only for a statewide mask mandate but for all of Texas to shut down again.
Yesterday, he upped the ante even further by calling for a nationwide mask mandate.
“Goldman Sachs estimates that a national masking order would save the economy a trillion dollars,” Jenkins wrote. “When you divide that by the population of Texas, we can save $87 billion to our economy and countless lives by all wearing a mask.”
Jenkins is also calling for a ban on going to bowling alleys, arcades, concerts, movie theaters, public pools, concerts, and participating in “group youth sports.”
Mandates and bans are a pattern for Jenkins. Since the beginning of the Chinese coronavirus outbreak, he has stepped into the role of leading other locally elected Democrats in Bexar, Harris, and Travis counties.
Jenkins is leading them is toward more government control over people rather than providing guidance and letting people decide how they will respond to the current situation.
The city of Colleyville in Tarrant County has chosen the latter course and, thus far, has zero reported deaths from the virus.
Cases of the virus have been rising not only in Dallas County but statewide, as well. Jenkins has used this to advance his policy of a second Texas shutdown, arguing it would save lives.
However, there is an important gap in Dallas’ data: they do not report recoveries. Dallas’ Director of Health and Human Services, Dr. Philip Huang, has been challenged on this before by Commissioners Theresa Daniel and John Wiley Price.
Tarrant County, however, does report recoveries; for two weeks, their reports show deaths are “trending down” and recoveries far outweigh deaths.
“The fact is that most of the people who get COVID-19 will recover,” said Richard Hill of Tarrant County Public Health, adding that while state law doesn’t require they report recoveries, they have chosen to do so.
By choosing not to report recoveries, Jenkins is using incomplete data while pushing for more mandates and shutdowns.
Texans concerned about another statewide shutdown and bans on their everyday life may contact their state representative and state senator.
Texans concerned about a nationwide mask mandate may contact their U.S. representative, U.S. senator, and President Trump.
