Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update March 10 - An Historic Day in Texas

Effective today is Governor Greg Abbott's Executive Order (GA-34) lifting the mask mandate in Texas and allowing all businesses and facilities in the state to operate at 100% capacity, should they choose to. The governor's statement included these words: 

We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100 percent. Make no mistake, COVID-19 has not disappeared, but it is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations, and safe practices that Texas are using that state mandates are no longer needed. Today's announcement does not abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year. Instead, it is a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety and the safety of others. With this executive order, we are ensuring that all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny.

Dan and I received our second COVID-19 vaccinations on Tuesday, March 2. According to the medical experts, the vaccine should be at its full effectiveness two weeks later, which will be March 16, for us.

The CDC has issued a statement about what it means to be fully vaccinated:

If you’ve been fully vaccinated:

• -You can gather indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask.
• -You can gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives who all live together) without masks, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. 
• -If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you do not need to stay away from others or get tested unless you have symptoms.
  • However, if you live in a group setting (like a correctional or detention facility or group home) and are around someone who has COVID-19, you should still stay away from others for 14 days and get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms.

Some medical experts have criticized the CDC's new guidelines for fully-vaccinated people, saying it is too restrictive. Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security was quoted as saying, "It's not as if you get your vaccine and nothing changes. Everything changes."

William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center infectious disease expert was quoted as saying, "Go out there into the world and start engaging with each other."

I spoke with my own primary care physician on March 3, and she encouraged me to "trust" the vaccine and begin living a more normal life once again. I am looking forward to doing just that. I've already made an appointment to get my hair cut on March 17, something I'm desperately in need of. And I've made plans to have lunch with my friend, Kay, on that same day. I will never again take for granted the blessing of visiting with a close friend, something that has been out of the question for the past year.

• •  

 The Winter Storm of 2021

You might say our winter weather started on Sunday, January 10. Everyone was so excited to see snow falling and sticking, which is a bit of a rarity for Central Texas. I sent some photos to Kelsey, and she replied, “That’s pretty cool. And not fair,” for no snow had fallen in Houston. On Wednesday, January 13, we still had snow in our yard, but it was beginning to melt fast. We all considered it a wonderful gift to have had such a perfect snowfall.

A month later, on Thursday, February 11, an arctic front moved across the entire nation. More than a third of the continental US had below-zero temperatures. Texas was not spared. The temperatures plummeted, and as moisture moved in, everything became glazed in ice. The temperatures dipped into the single digits, breaking records that had stood for decades. The birds were shivering and huddled near the house for a tiny degree of warmth. One of the doves roosted on our barbecue grill.

Then, over the weekend, came the snow. Most snows in this region come and go within a single day, but this snow moved in and stayed. The winds caused it to drift in our backyard so that our raised patio and the yard were flush. All during this time, the temperatures were hovering around zero at night, and rising to the teens or low twenties during the day.

On Sunday morning I attempted to drive to Starbuck's to get our traditional Sunday morning coffee/tea and breakfast. But I only made it a couple blocks when I discovered the roads were treacherous. I turned around in a driveway and came home. Beginning that day, and for several more days, driving was impossible, and so was walking. Our yard, driveway and sidewalk were covered in ice. What had been soft-fallen snow had melted and then refrozen. This picture was taken Sunday evening, showing reflections on our icy front yard. The winter wonderland had turned into a frozen, slick mess.

The video clip is of a couple who were enjoying the winter adventure, taken from the front door of our house. But many people were faced with life-and-death problems.

By Monday rolling blackouts began for some Texans, due to record-breaking electric demand, and the malfunctioning of many power facilities. Water pipes and water mains had frozen up, for many by this time.

By Tuesday more than four million customers were in the dark across the state. We were thankful and amazed that we had no outages at our house, at all, but our son, Chris, and his family, in Houston, and many of our good friends from church in Salado, were not so fortunate. 

Chris, Kelsey and the kids built a “blanket fort” in front of their gas fireplace, which provided a warm spot in their house. Most of the time they had some power at night, but it went off during the daytime. Their water pressure was minimal. They were lucky to have a swimming pool full of water for flushing, as needed.

Our friends, Kay and Andy, in Salado, were without both power and water, but had a propane-powered fireplace. A mutual friend, Billy, who lives by himself out in the country, moved in with them. He had no power, no water, and no fireplace. Also, he had trees and tree branches that had broken and fallen all over his property, making it a real challenge even to leave the property. 

Another couple (Trish and Kelly), also mutual friends of Kay, Andy and us, were “trapped” in their house, without water or power. They had a wood-burning fireplace, but that meant trudging through the snow and hauling wood, using a wheelbarrow, then hauling it upstairs to their house … load after load throughout the night, so they wouldn’t freeze. They stayed up for two nights to continuously feed the fire. They live in a hilly part of town, and driving was impossible, even had the bridge, crossing into their neighborhood, not been closed due to the weather. After a couple days, Andy was finally able to navigate the streets and rescue them. The temperature in their house was in the 40s when Andy finally reached them.

There was a growing death toll across Texas, due to complications of the cold weather. One of Billy’s neighbors died of hypothermia. Mixed messages were coming from the authorities: “Drip your faucets to prevent pipes from freezing.” And then, “Refrain from dripping faucets to conserve as much water as possible.” 

By Thursday many people were seeing the return of electrical power, though hundreds of thousands were still in the dark. The water problems were still widespread. Kay continued to melt snow and ice for flushing toilets for her house full of evacuees. Andy was finally able to get to the church building, where he filled up containers of drinking water to bring home. 

This storm lasted more than a week. By Thursday, February 18, Chris and Kelsey had water and power. By Sunday, February 21, Kay and Andy’s power and water were functional. 

Many people had serious water damage to their homes, as broken pipes thawed and spewed water. Chris and Kelsey have neighborhood friends who have been renting out their house lately. Sadly, they didn’t have renters in the house during the storm, and the empty house was devastated by burst pipes. Scenes like this were appearing all across the state.

Many Texans took this winter storm and all of its repercussions as a wake-up call, and are stocking up on emergency supplies. The government is investigating the failure of our electrical grid, and moving rapidly to seek remedies, so that the entire state will be better prepared in the next crisis.