By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Gov. Greg Abbott has declared that business will be 100 percent open and is ending the statewide mask mandate.

Fine. You go ahead with that call, governor. Me? I’m going to keep wearing my mask when I venture outside. I plan to keep wearing the mask probably for the entire year and — who knows? — maybe the next year, too. I also plan to minimize my appearance in local businesses while the pandemic is still raging around the world.

Abbott wants Texas businesses to resume “normal” activity. I do, too. I don’t like wearing a mask. I don’t like keeping my distance from everyone out there. I don’t like having to slater sanitizer on my hands every time I roll out a shopping cart or pump fuel into my truck. I just do all of it to stay safe from the COVID virus.

I do worry about whether Abbott’s declaration opens the door to yet another spike in coronavirus infection, hospitalization … or worse!

He went to Lubbock to make the announcement at a restaurant. I guess he wanted to show us all that it’s OK to go out and spend money to support local businesses. Hey, I am all in with that, too!

In due time. In due course. Not just yet.

My bride and I have been vaccinated. We are happy about that and we feel a good bit of relief knowing our systems contain the Pfizer medicine that we hope will fend off the virus. We are only about 10 percent of the entire U.S. population that has been granted that immunity. We need tens of millions more Americans to join us so we can meld into that “herd immunity” crowd that strengthens our chances of staying free of infection.

So, thanks for declaration, Gov. Abbott. I am going to say a prayer for all of us that we can avoid what I fear might be a consequence of yet another rush to returning to normal.