‘Cautious optimism’ for long weekend
Galveston hopes for boost in business but urges virus safeguards
It’s been a tough summer for Galveston, even if the island avoided Hurricane Laura’s destructive path last week.
Tourism is the lifeblood of the Gulf Coast city’s economy and yet, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, island beaches were closed and hotel rooms were vacant for long stretches — and restaurants have had to adapt to limits on indoor dining. And save for a brief four-week period from May to June, bars have been closed completely.
So as Labor Day weekend approached, heralding the end of the island’s summer tourist season, interim Mayor Craig Brown had a clear message to anyone looking for a beach getaway: Galveston is open for business, and please bring your wallet.
“All the businesses have been suffering, even if they’re running at a reduced capacity, they’re still suffering,” Brown said, noting that hotel occupancy tax revenue has declined sharply. “That’s something that we’re really looking forward to — for Labor Day to be a big shot in the arm for the business community here.”
While parks and beaches across the Houston-Galveston region will be open this weekend, public health officials were still urging caution, fearing a potential third spike in COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March. Anthony Fauci, the na
tion’s top infectious disease expert, warned this week that if Americans were “careless” there could be another jump in cases this fall.
After all, it was only two months ago that a major increase in COVID-19 cases forced the closure of beaches in Galveston and Brazoria counties over the Fourth of July weekend, prompting localities across Texas to require that people wear masks inside businesses.
Mixed metrics
But unlike previous holiday weekends, key indicators provided some reason for optimism after weeks in which federal, state and local officials were mostly been unified in urging people to wear masks and take other precautions.
In some parts of Texas, infection rates and hospitalizations from the virus have steadily decreased for weeks. That marks a major difference from prior to Memorial Day weekend, when cases were already ticking upward in the state, portending an even larger spike after the holiday.
In Galveston County, for instance, there has been a decline in COVID-19 cases for eight weeks straight, and the rate of positive tests dropped to just over 4 percent last week, the lowest it had been in months. Per capita cases have also declined significantly.
These metrics gave Philip Keiser, Galveston County’s local health authority, reason for “cautious optimism” that the region was finally starting to turn a corner.
“One of the important things to keep in mind is that Labor Day weekend actually represents the end of summer, so we’re not gonna see any more (crowded) weekends, whereas Memorial Day is the beginning and then July 4 is not even the peak but when summer gets into high gear,” Keiser said. He said he expects another spike at some point in the fall, but added, “I hope that we’re better prepared and when we have increases in cases we’ll be able to respond better.”
In the Houston area, there was more wariness, especially with students returning to in-person instruction in some public school districts and college students heading back to campuses.
Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, noted that there was some “noise” in recent data that could foretell a spike in coming weeks. This week, the Texas Medical Center collectively saw more patients admitted per day — and the seven-day rolling average was beginning to increase. Boom said the dynamics leading up to Labor Day felt “a little too similar to Memorial Day.” Many flocked to beaches that weekend without masks, as state leaders touted the reopening of Texas.
“Now is the time to consolidate our gains through continued safe practices, not the time to lose ground by letting our guards down,” Boom said.
As it did before Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, Methodist urged Houstonians to be safe this weekend through a public service campaign — digital billboards, social media messaging and front-page wrap-around newspaper ads. All stress the importance of wearing a mask, staying six feet apart and practicing proper hand hygiene.
The Houston area’s COVID metrics remain generally good, with one exception — after nearly three weeks suggesting the virus was on a path to burn out, its spread was again accelerating. The metric, known as the pandemic’s reproductivity value, shows each infected person has been passing the virus to an average of more than one person the last five days. The average for the previous 20 days was less than 1, a level at which an outbreak over time can’t sustain itself.
Otherwise, the city’s numbers are encouraging. The number of new cases Thursday was under 1,000 and the positive test rate was down to 5.2 percent, half what it was a month ago. Hospitalizations were slightly up, but Boom suspected that may have been because people delayed going to the hospital last week due to the threat of Hurricane Laura.
Social distancing messaging
Harris County health officials issued a statement Friday urging people to heed the recommendations that have helped curb the pandemic. A spokesman for Houston’s health department said people should wear a face mask in public, practice social distancing and wash their hands often — the same practices that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has been preaching for months.
Local elected officials have worked to sound the alarm, as well. While Houston city parks will remain open during the holiday weekend, Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia said in a statement that no public facilities in his precinct would be rented out for large gatherings
“Our strict social distancing guidelines have been effective, and to date, we are unaware of anyone contracting COVID-19 from a visit to a Precinct 2 park,” Garcia said.
Keiser, the Galveston County health authority, believes that these public campaigns on safe practices have had a positive impact. In the weeks leading up to the Fourth of July weekend, he would drive through Galveston and see few masks out in public. That is no longer the case, he said.
“I think we’ve learned some very important lessons, one is the important of masking,” Keiser said. “Now if someone even wears their mask askew, you get a lot of hairy eyeballs.”