Big Texas cities limiting bars, restaurants; Capitol closed
AUSTIN — Austin joined other major Texas cities Tuesday in closing bars and restaurant dining rooms to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, after the state announced its first death related to COVID-19.
The Texas Capitol in Austin also will be closed to the public starting Wednesday, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the State Preservation Board. The Capitol will remain open to elected officials, staff and state agency personnel. The Capitol Visitors Center, the Texas State Cemetery and the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage also will be closed for the duration of the coronavirus emergency.
The University of Texas System on Tuesday instructed its eight academic campuses to, effective immediately, move all classes online for the rest of the spring semester and postponed graduation ceremonies until the fall. With no classes held on campus, system officials are urging students to go home. Campus residence and dining halls will be limited to only those students who don’t have alternative housing. Graduating students will still receive their degrees.
Also Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott activated the Texas National Guard in response to the outbreak, describing it as a “preparative measure.” Abbott said there were no current plans for deployments.
El Paso closed its bars and ordered restaurant capacities cut in half Tuesday in an effort to deter the COVID-19 spread. Galveston Mayor Jim Yarbrough ordered the island city’s bars and restaurants to close, as well as all public amusement venues, including museums, the Pleasure Pier and Moody Gardens, effective Wednesday. Hotel restaurants will be allowed to serve hotel guests only.
“These decisions do not come lightly, but are the most prudent we can make at this time,” Yarbrough said. “This is not to create panic, but is out of an abundance of caution to meet the (federal) guidelines and the guidance we have received from the medical community about social distancing.”
Houston has also enacted restrictions on bars, clubs and restaurants in hopes of keeping people home.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover from the virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. On Monday, Dallas restricted public gatherings to 50 people.
Along the Texas coast, Matagorda County health officials announced that a man in his late 90s who died had tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. He was the first COVID-19related death known in Texas.
Officials said they were reviewing a possible community link between that man and the county’s first COVID-19 case, a 60-yearold woman who is being treated at a hospital for pneumonia. The woman traveled around Texas but had not left the state, said Mitch Thames, a county spokesman.
Thames said it would not be unusual if the man and the woman had some sort of connection.
“That’s not uncommon in Bay City (the county seat). We’re a small town. Our entire county has about 36,000 in it. Heck we’re related to most everybody and friends with the others,” Thames said.
“We’re going to embrace the family once we find out who it is,” he said. “We’re going to pull together just like we do.”
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