Abbott set to allow businesses to reopen
Governor says ‘safe standards’ will be in place for theaters, salons, restaurants
Gov. Greg Abbott said Texans could be allowed as early as next week to go back to movie theaters, hair salons, dine-in restaurants and church under a new executive order he is working on.
On a Dallas-area radio program, Abbott said he’ll make an announcement on Friday or on Monday that will reopen “massive amounts of businesses” that have been closed since he issued a statewide stay-at-home order March 31. When he makes the announcement, Abbott said he will give businesses a week to do what they need to get ready to reopen.
“You’re going to be able to go dining under safe standards, you’re going to be able to get a haircut, you’re going to be able to go to hair salons, but we’re going to make sure there are safe standards in place,” Abbott said on WBAP in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Abbott said later “it includes churches also.”
Pressure to reopen Texas has intensified since last week, when Georgia announced a similar plan to open in-restaurant dining, movie theaters and other businesses. And Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has gone on national television to criticize “draconian” shutdown orders for being based on “wrong numbers” and “wrong science.”
Texas has had over 543 people die from COVID-19, but the state’s demand for hospitals and medical resources was projected to peak Wednesday by Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a global research organization that provides data to the White House.
The state has more than 20,000 available hospital beds. The number of those hospitalized
for the infection has been level at around 1,400 per day.
But in Texas’s most populous county — Harris — infections have been climbing steadily for two weeks. Harris County has seen more than 1,000 new cases in a week and now has over 5,100 COVID-19 patients, almost twice as many as any other county in Texas.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced Wednesday that residents would be required to wear face masks outside beginning Monday to help stem the spread of the virus.
Abbott hinted his reopening plan would not be a one-size-fitsall set of rules. He said he’s working with public health officials to create a plan that will make sure counties with no COVID-19 cases don’t have the same restrictions as people in hard-hit areas such as Dallas and Houston.
“We understand the need for flexibility,” Abbott said, adding that “larger, more challenged counties will have to go a little bit slower.”
Abbott said he is working with businesses and public health experts to craft plans for different industries to reduce the potential of spreading the coronavirus.
“We’re going to be looking at the right strategies for businesses to open up so they can make money again,” Abbott said.
He said more details will be released by Monday.
Abbott was one of the nation’s most reluctant governors to impose a stay-at-home order in the first place. He made his declaration after more than 30 other states had done so.
Abbott said when he makes his next public announcement, businesses will be able to reopen seven days later. That could be as soon as May 1 or possibly pushed to May 4.
Later in the same radio interview, Abbott said beaches will “definitely” be open this summer, but with a clear understanding that people will have to be smart and stay away from large groups. He was less certain about school starting in August or if sports can resume.
“Once we have an immunization we will be fully back to normal, but an immunization will not be in existence when the next school year begins,” he said.
Abbott’s comments Wednesday come a day after he said testing data showed signs that the pandemic may be “leveling off” in Texas. He pointed to the fact that earlier this month Texas had 1,000 people test positive for COVID-19. But since then, he said the state hasn’t seen testing results go that high. On Wednesday, Texas health officials reported Texas had 21,069 cases as of noon — up 873 from the previous day.
Coronavirus expert Peter Hotez, a professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said Monday that social distancing measures put in place early have helped Texas but warned that easing up too quickly could create problems.
“We avoided the horrors they’re suffering in New York and New Jersey because we social-distanced before the virus had gotten here in a significant way,” Hotez said in an interview with Hearst Newspapers. “Early social distancing, before transmission had been going on for a few weeks, really saved parts of Texas, especially Houston.
“Now we have to be careful not to get too complacent. It’s too soon to start high-fiving each other. Things could still go wrong.”
Patrick — the state’s No. 2 elected official — on Monday contradicted both Abbott and the public health experts during an appearance on Fox News when he said the shutdowns should never have happened.
“But 500 people out of 29 million and we’re locked down and we’re crushing the average worker,” Patrick said. “We’re crushing small business. We’re crushing the markets. We’re crushing this country.”
Abbott and Patrick’s push to ease restrictions comes even as Harris County imposes the new face mask restrictions. That order takes effect Monday — the same day Abbott is expected to make his announcement to reopen businesses.
In another radio interview in Lubbock earlier Wednesday, Abbott said he knows people want the economy opened up faster, but he’s relying on experts to make sure he doesn’t trigger a new outbreak.
“There’s some people who want to be real impulsive and think about ‘let’s just focus on tomorrow,’” Abbott said. “I’m focusing on the next year.”
Texas has not had a death rate as high as other big states. New York has had over 15,000 deaths. California has had over 1,200, and Florida has had over 900.