June 26, 2020

Governor Shifts Reopening to Reverse
as Personal Irresponsibility Drives Surge

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Scrambling frantically to play from behind in the nation's new COVID-19 epicenter, Governor Greg Abbott shut down Texas bars again on Friday while slapping new limits on restaurants and large public gatherings in the midst of a frightening resurgence that a premature reopening had fueled.

But Abbott is attempting to minimize the potential for another uprising on the hard right when he ruled that violators of the resurrected emergency restrictions could face fines and regulatory interference without the possibility of jail time for offenses.

"The actions in this executive order are essential to our mission to swiftly contain this virus and protect public health," the Republican governor said. "We want this to be as limited in duration as possible. However, we can only slow the spread if everyone in Texas does their part."

Abbott said that all Texans have "a responsibility to themselves and their loved ones" to do their part in a statewide team effort by wearing masks in public, social distancing and staying at home as much possible.

Abbott has put the reopening in a holding pattern on Thursday as it became obvious that the new coronavirus wave was totally out of control in Texas where the governor had claimed for a month that disease had been contained with testing missions to rural hot spots.

But the governor was compelled to take more dramatic actions after Texas set records for new cases in seven out of the last 10 days with more than 17,000 infections confirmed here in the past three days. The state's failure to defuse the second outbreak that's been under way for more than three weeks has pushed the Texas health care system to the brink of a meltdown with hospitals full and flowing over with COVID-19 patients. While testing has increased in the past week, Texas has one of the worst rates in the nation in that regard despite repeated promises by Abbott to fix that.

The second outbreak is due in large part to young people and older Texans including some elected Republican officials to adhere to safety protocols designed to protect their constituents' health and safety. But Abbott appears undaunted by the failure of Texans to practice the kind of personal responsibility that he keeps preaching.

"I know that our collective action can lead to a reduction in the spread of COVID-19 because we have done it before, and we will do it again,” the governor declared.

more to come ...

Texas Major Hot Spots
New Cases Increase in Past Two Weeks
COVID-19 Cases Per 100,000 Population
1 Hays 362% 986
2 Nueces 315% 284
3 Guadalupe 277% 344
4 McLennan 291% 186
5 Hidalgo 197% 289
6 Comal 188% 252
7 Tom Green 175% 239
8 Midland 174% 286
9 Wichita 172% 189
10 Brazoria 143% 517
11 Lubbock 127% 542
12 Galveston 123% 671
13 Williamson 123% 300
14 Bexar 114% 393
15 Ector 111% 268
16 Victoria 102% 415
17 Brazos 101% 607
18 Cameron 99% 444
19 Bell 90% 284
20 Harris 74% 575
21 Travis 73% 554
22 Smith 73% 183
23 Parker 69% 128
24 Webb 69% 379
25 Montgomery 63% 320
26 Ellis 59% 381
27 Collin 58% 244
28 Kaufman 55% 381
29 Tarrant 57% 497
30 Denton 56% 281
31 Fort Bend 46% 415
32 Johnson 43% 183
33 Dallas 43% 703
34 El Paso 43% 593
35 Bastrop 35% 444
36 Jefferson 30% 596

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