California vs. Texas: a tale of two lockdowns

Follow Us Does Texas Know Something California Doesn't? — Noah Feldman It's a tale of two mega-states — and probably of two Americas, each with a nearly opposite approach to Covid-19 restrictions. The governor of Texas allowed his stay-at-home order to lapse and restaurants, theaters and stores to reopen, as long as they stay below 25% capacity. Meanwhile, California's governor ordered a "hard close" of the beaches of Orange County. The divergence reflects an increasingly fundamental divide between states' attitudes toward the public health science about the coronavirus pandemic. Texas is following the most permissive conceivable interpretation of the evidence; California is deploying what is just about the most restrictive possible interpretation. It isn't only because of different experiences with the virus. Although California has identified over 55,000 cases, and Texas has only 32,000, California is much larger, with about 10 million more residents. It is surely not a coincidence that their decision to go different ways reflects partisan differences in attitudes toward the coronavirus. This bodes ill for any sort of coherent or consistent national approach in the weeks and months ahead. Some 10 states, including Texas, eased restrictions on May 1, with some four more scheduled for this week. Just about all of these are red states. Blue states, including many in the hard-hit Northeast, are maintaining restrictions, with some localities actually tightening their rules. Read the whole thing. How China Is Losing Europe — Andreas Kluth Your Air Travel Experience Will Never Be the Same — Chris Bryant How Mohammed bin Salman Hit a Dead End in Washington — Bobby Ghosh A Secret Algorithm Is Deciding Who Will Die in America — Cathy O'Neil Trump and Lincoln Are Opposite Kinds of Presidents - Francis Wilkinson Oil's Recovery Could Take Decades, Not Years — Julian Lee Justice Arrives for Michael Flynn — Eli Lake Trump Should Worry About His Approval Rating — Jonathan Bernstein Live From Omaha, It's Warren Buffett on Saturday Night — Tara Lachapelle This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the 10 most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion published this week based on web readership, plus some other stuff sometimes thrown in. New subscribers to the newsletter can sign up here.   Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more.   You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022