Texas governor pauses state's Covid reopening

Source: Politico | June 25, 2020 | Renuka Rayasam

Gov. Greg Abbott has urged state residents to wear masks.

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday froze Texas’ state reopening plan amid a surge of new coronavirus cases and concern over whether the pandemic could swamp local health systems.

Abbott, a Republican, separately halted elective surgeries in a handful of counties with fast-growing Covid-19 caseloads. His moves follow similar halts in reopenings in Utah, Oregon and North Carolina.

Abbott’s response to the pandemic has grown more urgent in recent days as hospitals warned about their limited surge capacity. Texas Children’s Hospital is admitting adult patients to free up beds around Harris County, which includes Houston and is the third most populous county in the U.S.

Abbott has also urged state residents to wear masks and backed down on an earlier order that banned cities and counties from mandating people wear face coverings in public.

Abbott took over the state’s pandemic response from local officials in late March and began lifting restrictions in May in a bid to reboot the state’s economy.

Lina Hidalgo, Harris County’s top elected official, told POLITICO Wednesday that she was in discussions with Abbott’s office to allow the county to reimpose pandemic-related restrictions with fines for non-compliance.

“A few weeks ago I thought we may be headed toward brink of disaster,” she said. “Now I am quite confident we are headed that way. The question of whether it’s too late.”

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  • Consistent June 25, 2020 at 3:18 pm #40501

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