Texas is about to reopen. Here’s how you can stay safe amid COVID
Gov. Greg Abbott may be reopening Texas next week, but the pandemic is not over yet. Even Abbott said, “COVID has not like suddenly disappeared.” Based on conversations with public health experts, here are a few pointers about how to stay safe as you navigate a reopened Texas.
Masks are still advised
Neale Chumbler, a professor at the University of North Texas’ College of Health and Public Services, said, “I think you can still go live your life and go places. But I think it’s still very important to wear your mask and social distance, the combination of the two.”
And be careful if you find yourself around too many other people who are not following that advice. “I would not feel comfortable being in the environment where I’m the only one with a mask and social distancing,” Chumbler said.
Remember the three C’s
Diana Cervantes, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at UNT Health Science Center, has been occasionally dining at indoor restaurants, unlike many of her peers. But she hasn’t been going to crowded restaurants.
She has a strategy that she recommends for gauging the safety of various spaces that she calls the three C’s: avoid crowds, close contact and cramped spaces.
Within those parameters, Cervantes said, “think of what your risk is” and make your decisions.
For Jeff Dennis, assistant professor of public health at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, that has meant avoiding restaurants and music shows. “I have not gone to a concert or eaten inside a restaurant since (the pandemic) started,” he said. “I don’t anticipate doing that anytime soon.”
How to consider the reopening if you are vaccinated
Cervantes has received a vaccine, and she notes while it is not 100% effective, people can make choices based on the risks they gauge for themselves and others around them. “If you get infected the disease is probably so minor that you have so little you won’t transmit it,” she said.
So how does that look for a vaccinated person like Cervantes? She said she may not wear a mask during brief, distanced public encounters but would still wear one if she is around people for longer stretches of time, like at a salon.
Cervantes said her mother, who is an octogenarian, has also been vaccinated. Because she is at higher risk for a severe outcome to COVID, Cervantes would recommend she be more careful with certain activities and mask wearing until more people have been vaccinated.
