Texas, Florida reverse course
States order bars closed, restaurants to scale back as COVID-19 cases surge
Houston — In a major reversal, the Republican governors of Florida and Texas rolled back their states’ aggressive reopenings Friday — which President Donald Trump had touted as successful national models — ordering bars to close and restaurants to reduce capacity as coronavirus infections surged.
Florida banned alcohol consumption at bars as new coronavirus cases neared 9,000, almost double the previous record set two days ago. The state has reported 111,724 COVID-19 cases since March, more than a fifth of them this week, and 3,327 deaths as of Thursday.
Florida officials attributed the new outbreak to young people crowding bars that reopened three weeks ago at half capacity, although many patrons ignored social distancing restrictions. The state’s seven-day average for positive COVID-19 tests has tripled since the start of the month to 13.4%.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had been downplaying the widening outbreak, changed his tone this week, promising state agencies would crack down on those violating COVID-19 restrictions. But like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, DeSantis stopped short of requiring residents to wear masks or stay home.
Speaking at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers on Friday, DeSantis said trying to police such mandates “would backfire.”
Some Florida cities and counties already have required masks inside public buildings. DeSantis said those deci
sions are up to local officials.
“They’re going to have to figure out how they’re going to use the long arm of the law to enforce it or not,” he said. “We’re going to continue to put out the messaging, we’re going to continue to put out the guidance, and we’re going to trust people to make good decisions.”
Average cases are now up about 77 percent from a week ago, and 526 percent since Memorial Day. It is the 19th day in a row that Florida has hit a new average high; four other states (Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma) have also hit new marks on Friday.
Infections have risen dramatically across the nation following business reopenings and protests that began last month after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In Texas, where Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to visit Sunday for an indoor “Celebrate Freedom” event at a 14,000-member Dallas megachurch, Abbott announced he was effectively closing bars and reducing restaurant capacity from 75% to 50%.
Democrats leading the state’s largest counties and cities have been pressuring the governor to reopen more slowly, to no avail.
Dallas County’s chief executive, Clay Jenkins, called on Abbott to limit public gatherings of 10 or more people ahead of the Fourth of July, noting the event that Pence planned to attend was “not really safe, but they have a right to do it.”
“We’d all be better served if those leading the response were at their desks working their butts off instead of holding events,” Jenkins said.
Texas’ major cities have seen hospitals fill with COVID-19 patients in recent days as Abbott refused to issue statewide mask or stayat-home orders, insisting that reopening should proceed.
“This virus is out of control in Houston,” said Marvin Odum, former Shell Oil president serving as Houston’s COVID-19 relief and recovery adviser.
Houston’s infection rate has tripled during the last three months, with eight deaths Friday, for a total of 216. The average age of those testing positive has fallen from 50 to 40, officials said.
As concern mounted about large gatherings at parks and beaches this summer, Abbott on Friday ordered rafting and tubing outfitters to close and said outdoor gatherings of 100 or more must be approved by local government.
The announcement came less than two months after Texas began a phased reopening that Trump and other Republicans highlighted among the country’s earliest and purportedly the most effective. But as cases increased this month, leaders in the state’s largest cities and counties imposed mask requirements and lobbied for statewide restrictions to slow the virus’s spread.