On The Same Day Greg Abbott Announces He Has COVID, Texas Has Requested 5 Mortuary Trailers From FEMA

Texas is the biggest red state in the county. And because of that, many of its residents have refused to get inoculated against COVID-19.

Governor Greg Abbott certainly hasn’t helped matters. Like, Ron DeSantis, his counterpart in Florida, Abbott is more focused on making the virus a culture war issue rather than actually doing anything about it.

And cases are skyrocketing in both places. In fact, 40% of the new cases in the entire country are coming from either Texas or Florida. Things took a dramatic turn for Abbott on Tuesday as the governor announced that he has COVID-19. Interestingly enough, on the same day, the state requested 5 new mortuary trucks from FEMA.

The mortuary trucks were commonly seen in the early days of the pandemic when states like New York and California were experiencing thousands of cases. They weren’t expected to be needed again once the vaccine for the illness was introduced.

FEMA spokesman Douglas Loveday told the Washington Post, “We don’t know of any place that needs these now due to COVID, but part of a response is being prepared for what could happen. Knowing that it takes a few weeks for these to arrive, we wanted to go ahead and put the request in.”

Abbott, who is vaccinated against COVID-19, will be treated with Regeneron. Whether this new illness changes his stance on mitigation efforts remains to be seen.

Todd Neikirk

Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.