BROWNSVILLE BUCKS REPORTED TEXAS ANTI-MASK TREND

ANTI-MASK PROTEST IN AUSTIN

When I wrote that Brownsville residents seemed to be almost 100% in compliance with safety protocols, a reader responded: 

"Employees are FORCED to wear it by their employers. I'm talking about the people not at work. Watch the Astros, Cowboys, Texans, Rangers, etc. games on TV Jim."

Actually, I wasn't talking about employees on the job so much as the people I see at H.E.B. and Walmart.

I'll take the commenter's word for it that many fans are unmasked at sports stadiums in Texas.  

A certain "redneck mentality" permeates North Texas and Bobby Wightman claims even San Antonians are not masking in big numbers.

No where else in the world are people fighting health protocols, claiming they violate personal rights.  

Yet, in the United States seven states have banned mask mandates:  Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.  

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, seeing the resurgence in covid-19 cases in his state, has asked his state legislature to reverse the ban on mask mandates he originally supported.

But, what I observed again today is that almost everyone in Brownsville is masked with the exception of an employee hear or there at Walmart or H.E.B.

This morning, I followed an unmasked older man, dressed like a farmer, into Walmart.  Inappropriately, I was making assumptions:  "He's probably a Trumper or anti-mask."

Once inside, the man was offered a mask, accepted it gracefully and put it on.  So much for assumptions.

Yet, the slight delay, with the man accepting and putting on the mask, allowed me to pass him up, beat him to the pharmaceutical counter and pick up my meds in seconds flat.

Poetic justice for not being masked stepping out of the car.