‘All hands on deck,’ Pence says of Texas
Vice president promises help as disease surges
With coronavirus hospitalizations doubling over the last 10 days in Texas, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Dallas to meet with Gov. Greg Abbott and to assure him that the federal government will provide anything the state needs.
“This is all hands on deck,” Pence said during a meeting with Abbott and White House coronavirus expert Dr. Deborah Birx at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “President Trump wanted us to be here today with the developments over the last two weeks — with the rising positivity and the rising number of cases — with a very simple message that is to you and the people of Texas: We’re with you and we’re going to stay with you.”
The positivity rate is the percentage of Texans tested for COVID-19 who are found to have the disease. For most of May that percentage was under 6 percent. But since Tuesday, the positivity rate has been well above 10 percent daily and hit over 13 percent.
Texas is doing an enormous amount of testing, but Pence said the goal is to accelerate that. The attention from Pence and the White House comes as Abbott has halted the state’s aggressive reopening program as almost every indicator shows the situation in Texas deteriorating. With Texans swarming to COVID-19 testing sites, the wait to get a test and the delays in getting results back has become a bigger issue.
The situation in Texas badly undercuts the White House’s message that the nation is on the rebound. Less than two weeks ago, Pence wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal asserting “we are winning the fight against the invisible enemy” and “we’ve slowed the
spread.”
But since that op-ed piece, infections in Texas, Florida, Arizona and California have spiked.
Birx said Texas did very well in controlling the virus for most of the spring, but in the last 15 or 16 days, the spread has become serious. She said it is troubling that there is a big increase in hospitalizations of people between 20 and 40 years of age.
“Harris County, primarily, you can see the rate of increase is quite enormous right now,” Birx said. “And you can see it in Bexar County and Travis County.”
Abbott on Thursday halted all nonessential surgeries to free up hospital beds to deal with the sudden increase in hospitalizations in those three counties, as well as Dallas County. Since Memorial Day, lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide are up over 250 percent. On Friday Abbott also ordered all bars to close indefinitely; on Monday
Abbott is requiring all restaurants to limit their dine-in crowds to 50 percent of maximum capacity.
Birx, Pence and Abbott all repeatedly called on Texans to wear masks to fight against the virus.
“Wearing a mask is just a good idea,” Pence said.
Ben Carson, the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, directly addresses those who worry about their freedom being infringed by government requirements that they wear masks and stay home if possible.
“We want freedom, particularly in Texas,” said Carson, a surgeon. “But you have to look at the longterm freedom. If we beat this thing back now, we get a lot more freedom in the long run.”
Abbott said he’s convinced that if more Texans wear masks and practice social distancing, the state can reverse recent trends.
“We need to understand, that COVID-19 has taken a very swift and very dangerous turn in Texas over just the past few weeks,” Abbott said.
But while Abbott has reversed some decisions, he has publicly stated over the last couple of days in local TV interviews that he doesn’t think issuing a statewide mask requirement or a statewide stay-athome order are the right way to go at this point.
Before visiting the medical center, Pence was in Dallas to attend a “Celebrate Freedom Rally” at the First Baptist Church where he repeatedly expressed optimism that Texas and the nation are closer to beating the coronavirus. He told the hundreds in attendance that with “each day we are one day closer to the day we put this pandemic in the past.”
Pence also praised Abbott, who is facing criticism from both the left and the right for how he’s managed the crisis in Texas.
“As we work now to safely reopen this state and this nation — to put Americans back to work and to worship — let me take this opportunity to commend Gov. Greg Abbott for his courageous and compassionate leadership for the people of Texas during this challenging time,” Pence said at the church rally where Abbott was given a standing ovation.
The leader of the Texas Democratic Party ripped Trump, Pence and Abbott for their response to the growing crisis.
“These are the people responsible for the surge in cases and hospitalizations in Texas and these are the people who continue to put Texans in danger,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said. “Texas cases are surging, and this is a direct result of Republican failures at the federal and state level.”