‘ROLLING WITH PUNCHES’:
Suburban counties split over enacting bar, restaurant restrictions
Galveston Mayor Jim Yarbrough believes there are likely many people walking around his city with the coronavirus.
While Galveston County had reported only two presumptive coronavirus cases as of Wednesday, public health experts say that people without symptoms can still be vectors for the virus, potentially transmitting it to many others through indirect or direct contact.
So while Galveston County officials continue to wrestle with whether they have the legal authority to follow Harris County’s lead and enforce restrictions on public gatherings in bars and restaurants, Yarbrough decided to stop waiting. Knowing there was a chance Houstonians would flock to his seaside island for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, he decided Tuesday to sign two ordinances closing “public amusement venues” — bars, theme parks, museums — and limiting restaurants to takeout service for 15 days.
“Obviously the ripples of what happens around us are real,” Yar
brough said. “But it’s more of our own circumstances that dictate it… My gut feeling, my common sense is we have a lot of cases in the county and the city we don’t know about.”
The divergent approaches of the city and county reflect a divide among local officials over how severely to restrict businesses — and in effect day-to-day life — in the face of the growing coronavirus threat. While some local officials advocate radical measures to head off a doomsday scenario, others favor adhering to less-stringent federal guidelines on public gatherings. The result is a person in Houston with cabin fever can’t go to the local pub for a beer, but can drive to suburban Montgomery County for dinner.
Houston and Harris County elected officials announced Monday that bars and clubs would be closed starting Tuesday and restaurants would be restricted to takeout, delivery or drive-thru service.
“The decisions we make, and you make, to go out in groups or to stay home will very much determine whether people live or die,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo warned Monday. She was joined in her plea by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a fellow Democrat.
Turner tweeted Tuesday night: “There will be no shelter in place in Houston.”
Fort Bend County announced in a press release Tuesday that bars in all incorporated and unincorporated areas would close until April 1. Restaurants would also only be open for takeout.
“We will continue to allow the science, not the fear or panic, to drive our decision-making in Fort Bend County,” said County Judge KP George, a Democrat. “We need everyone to do their part.”
Meanwhile, in Waller County, which borders the northwest corner of Harris County and where a handful of positive coronavirus cases have been identified, Republican Trey Duhon, the county judge, has no such plans. He said for now he will only issue a declaration of emergency and some restrictions on mass gatherings.
“I don’t plan on closing the restaurants or bars in Waller County, which, in all honesty, we don’t have a really high number of,” Duhon said, acknowledging, “That could change three days from now.”
In Montgomery County, Republican County Judge Mark Keough on Tuesday issued an amended order limiting gatherings at restaurants and bars to 50 people, with tables spread 10 feet apart. Movie theaters are also limited to 25 people.
The CDC has requested that gatherings of 50 people or more cease for eight weeks, the order noted. Brazoria and Chambers counties are similarly urging residents to follow CDC guidance.
Although Montgomery County restaurants can remain open, for now, it was of little comfort to staffers at one Irish establishment on St. Patrick’s Day.
Server and bartender Sarah Buehler said business was slow Tuesday at the Goose’s Acre Bistro & Irish Pub in The Woodlands.
“There’s no one here,” said Buehler, glancing out at the patio, where just three tables were occupied early in the day. “We thought last year was bad. This is nowhere near it. It’s like a million times worse.”
On top of business being slow, restaurant general manager Brandi Watkins said she had to send some of her staff home because the 50-person limit includes employees. The business needs at least 15 workers to operate. She expects her dining room to be closed to the public in the near future but said the company plans to continue operating by offering takeout meals.
“We’re just rolling with the punches minute by minute,” she said.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday abstained from providing a clear mandate from the state to close restaurants or bars or to suspend evictions and utility shutoffs, saying he would leave those decisions to local officials.
But local health authorities say federal guidance on the virus is a moving target. During a press conference Tuesday, Philip Keiser, the Galveston County health authority, noted a discrepancy between White House guidelines urging Americans to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people and previous CDC guidelines saying assemblies should be limited to 50 people.
“We’re looking at CDC recommendations which were issued on Friday, the president’s task force issued different recommendations on Monday, and CDC hasn’t reconciled those things yet,” Keiser said. “We’re trying to make sure we get the most clear, best guidance to people.”
Rural counties in particular could be ill-equipped to handle the expected influx of coronavirus patients as the testing capacity grows. Texas first coronavirus-related death occurred in Matagorda County; the man was the second positive case in the small, coastal county.
Matt Sebesta Jr., the Brazoria County judge, noted that as a rural county of 380,000 people, its hospital system will be stretched hopelessly thin if reported coronavirus cases increase. Brazoria has five hospitals in the county with a total of only 325 staffed beds. Yet Sebesta is recommending that county residents follow CDC guidance for now and will continue to keep restaurants and bars open.
“I think the majority of people will do the common-sense thing,” said Sebesta. “If we see this get worse, and we see a huge spike in cases then we may have to be a little bit more forceful with closing bars and restaurants.”
Some county leaders are taking a more philosophical stance in opposing such closures. Galveston County Judge Mark Henry doubled down Tuesday on previous remarks he made that Harris County’s directive was “illegal,” saying, the U.S. Constitution “forbids me from depriving liberty of property without due process.”
Henry added he would not make forceful recommendations to cities beyond following CDC guidance.
“The cities can make the decisions themselves,” Henry said. “They’ve got the same access to the same information.”
Yarbrough, the Galveston mayor and a former county judge, said he had no such qualms making that call. He agreed with Henry that county judges are more limited in the laws they can impose, but Galveston’s emergency statutes give him the latitude to close bars and restaurant dining rooms.
“I don’t want to get into the argument whether who’s right and who’s wrong, it doesn’t matter at this stage,” Yarbrough said of the city’s and county’s positions. “We think we have the ability under the statutes and under the emergency declaration to close bars and restaurants and take the actions we deem necessary.”