Texas is losing in the fight against COVID-19. The refusal of Republican state leaders to mandate face masks and put in place a serious lockdown has given the coronavirus a clear path to burn through the states population. COVID-19 is infecting communities, filling up hospitals and leaving so many dead that many bodies are being stored in refrigerated trucks.

Meanwhile the state has been urging schools to reopen which public health experts agree will only make the situation much worse.

Its impossible to have a disaster of this magnitude occur and not have the people in power, who ignored the warning signs, pay a political penalty. But what will that look like?

For insight Harvey Kronberg, founder of the Quorum Report, explains how has the pandemic changed politics in Texas.

This week billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, announced that they will be building their Cyberturck Gigafactory in Austin. This sounds great, but what is a gigafactory and what is a cybertruck? But more importantly, the question we need to be asking is what is the future of transportation? Many authorities in the auto industry predict that the next time you buy a brand new car, its likely going to be electric.

Zac Cataldo is the co-host of the Youtube channel "Now You Know" which produces "Tesla Time News." He answers the question: why did Elon Musk pick Austin?

David Martin Davies can be reached at DMDavies@TPR.org and on Twitter at @DavidMartinDavi.

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Texas Matters: Pandemic Politics And The Tesla Effect On Texas - Texas Public Radio