When Texas restaurants open their doors this Wednesday, protections against the coronavirus will go their own way. Although he managed to get vaccinated this month, Héctor Torres is grateful that his boss ordered all the staff – waiters, cooks, bartenders— You must wear the mask indoors despite the fact that Governor Greg Abbott lifted the covid-19 mitigation measures.
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“We have not lowered our guard. That makes us feel safer as workers in this environment”, says this waiter, who has been working at the Mexican restaurant Pico’s for seven uninterrupted years, even in the last year, during the pandemic, when other of his colleagues decided to resign to shelter at home. “I don’t feel entirely safe. The pandemic has not passed, it has not been eradicated and not many people have actually been vaccinated. “
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Last Tuesday, Texas became the first major state to suspend the mandatory use of masks and measures to curb the covid-19 pandemic: “It is time to reopen Texas to 100%,” Abbott said with his face uncovered, from a Mexican food restaurant in Lubbock, one of the counties that experienced a rebound in the disease that exceeded hospital capacity and available staff. “All businesses that want to be open have to be open.”
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Abbott has supported its decision that the rate of infections and deaths continues to decline, being the lowest since the pandemic began. According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, 3,744 new cases were confirmed this Tuesday, a substantially lower number than in early February 2021, when they totaled more than 19,000 a day. However, until last week just over 8% of the state’s total population was fully vaccinated (2,463,005 people of the nearly 29 million inhabitants of the state). Herd immunization is still a long way off.
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“It’s time to open Texas 100%”: Greg Abbott lifts restrictions imposed by the pandemic
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The measure drew criticism from leaders in the state, such as Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who asked Texans to keep wearing the mask and avoid meetings. “In the best of cases, it is an illusion to believe that the covid is less dangerous today than yesterday,” he claimed in his account of the social network Twitter, at a time when the state is the second in number of patients, with more than 2,700,000 cases, and the third due to deaths, with more than 45,000 deaths.
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The business in which Héctor Torres works has plenty of arguments to maintain the measures. Although they do not know how it happened, one of their employees, who suffered from pre-existing diseases, caught COVID-19 and died. “There is no reason to change anything (…) Right now it is not reasonable,” reiterates Arnoldo Richards, the owner of this place with 37 years operating in the city of Houston. “Changing something would be a death sentence”, He adds, explaining that he agrees with the governor that the recovery of the economy is necessary.
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From March 2020 until now, in this restaurant the masks are kept on, there are at least six stations of hand sanitizer with alcohol and they only work at 75% of the installed capacity.
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“I think we are going to wear a mask for the rest of the year, until I see that people feel comfortable without wearing a mask. Many people come to our restaurant and do not go to another just because of the measures we are taking, “says Richards.
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Another Latin food business, Gloria’s, will operate on the same wavelength. Their manager, Julio Osorio, assures that nothing will change in their operation: they will continue to operate at 50% capacity, they will keep the waiting area closed and the mask will be required. “It cannot be required, but its use will be recommended. We will follow what the governor says, but we will maintain our own rules.”
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“We cannot force anyone”
Another popular Mexican restaurant in Houston is Teotihuacán. Starting this Wednesday, they will be fully open: if 170 people arrive, they will all be received. They will, says their manager Alberto Duque, “trying to seat people as far apart as possible” because they have enough space.
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Despite this, Duque says that the measures that have been implemented since the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, will continue, as in Pico’s. Of course, the mask, for example, will only be mandatory for staff.
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“This is something almost personal, it is up to each person. When the governor said that it is not mandatory, we cannot force anyone to wear the mask. Everyone is responsible for deciding whether or not to use it “, explains Duque.
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In Teotihuacán, after a year of pandemic, says this manager, they have learned to deal with opponents of the use of the mask. “They say it’s silly to bring a mask if they’re going to eat.” Then they have demanded it from the clientele to move around the restaurant. “But There are people to whom we tell that they must have a mask and they enter by force, as if they did not understand. We just let it happen, “he assures resignedly.” And there are customers who care. “
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Pico’s has also suffered consequences when they responded to Abbott’s announcement with a post on their social networks informing that they would keep the masks on. Through Twitter and Instagram there are people who have threatened to send them to immigration to review the papers of their staff. “It seemed racist to me, because we are Mexican,” laments Richards. However, he says, the decision’s detractors are fewer than those who appreciate it. For Arnoldo Richards, having lost one of his employees to COVID-19 was “extremely strong.” For this reason and to protect its employees, it ensures that nothing will make you change your decision.
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