Texas Democrat Rep. Donna Howard who fled their political duties and flew off to Washington D.C was one of the six to test positive for COVID-19. Howard flew maskless with her fellow Democrats on a private plane despite calling for her state to reinstitute a universal mask mandate. While she tweeted that Texans needed to follow the science, social media users were quick to point out her track record. Democrats are all about “do as I say, not as I do.”
Howard retweeted guidance from Austin’s NPR station about updated guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics. They recommended that all students over 2 years old, along with staff, should wear face masks, regardless of vaccination status.
“We need to follow the science here. Texas needs to change course and allow for universal mask-wearing to prevent the spread of the highly contagious delta variant, esp as children under 12 cannot get vaccinated yet. #txlege @AmerAcadPeds,” Howard tweeted.
Lone Conservative Founder Kassy Dillon first replied to the post with a recent picture of Howard from her July 12 flight with over a dozen other people who were unmasked.
Over 60 Texas lawmakers flew from Austin to DC on two private jets chartered at $100,000. They fled the state in order to prevent the passage of an election reform bill. They were advocating for the passage of the For the People Act. While the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention requires masks on planes, trains, and buses, the authority does not extend to chartered planes.
But this isn’t the first time Howard has shown off her Democratic privilege. She also tweeted a picture of wet laundry hanging from a hotel room shower curtain rod trying to describe the “sacrifice” being made by Democratic legislators who fled the state. Mind you, this “brave” move is being made in a $200-a-night DC hotel.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki later announced that one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s aide’s tested positive for COVID-19 after coming in contact with the Texas Democrats. Several other White House staffers also reported that they had tested positive for the virus and were experiencing mild symptoms. Some of the staffers had already been vaccinated.
The lawmakers had also met with other Democratic members of Congress and Vice President Kamala Harris.
But Psaki has refused to call the Democrats’ trip a “super-spreader event,” despite more than 10% of the travelers testing positive for COVID-19 even after being vaccinated. She even admitted there have been more COVID-19 breakthrough cases among staff than publicly announced.
Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician of the Capitol, wrote a memo that the Delta variant virus had been detected in Washington, DC, and in the Capitol Buildings. Even Texas Rep. Gene Wu called the trip a sloppy move.
“Let our mistake be the object lesson. All of us had been fully vaccinated since March. We got complacent because we felt safe. We had no positives for months, and we got sloppy. Being vaccinated doesn’t ALWAYS stop you from spreading the virus,” Wu tweeted.
Texas is also seeing case numbers rise, but Gov. Greg Abbott announced he would not reinstate a mask mandate and that the government was way past telling people what to do. He emphasized that it was the “time for personal responsibility.” He has also continued to threaten to arrest the lawmakers who fled the state. He said they would consider the election legislation upon other measures when they returned.
Democracy is about staying in your state and getting the job done. Not jetting off to an expensive hotel and spreading COVID-19 all over Washington D.C. The airlines should’ve fined the Texas reps for not wearing masks like they’re doing to people on planes. The hypocrisy of the Democrats is always astounding – especially when they tout universal mask mandates.
