LIFE / CULTURE
Staying casual
By AFP Published: Apr 12, 2021 06:53 PM
A man passes murals of masked faces on the boarded-up windows of a bar on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas, on March 10. Photo: AFP
"It's great to be able to see people's faces - you don't see them smile underneath their masks," said Tom Williams, who on a recent trip to Texas was discovering the big state's decidedly casual approach to COVID-19.
Sitting in a Houston bar, he was struck by the contrast between the laid-back attitude of clients there and the far more cautious approach prevailing in his small hometown of Steilacoom, near Seattle, in faraway Washington state.