Coronavirus: Texas Sees Record 5K-Plus New Cases

AUSTIN, TX — Hours after Gov. Greg Abbott said the new number of cases of the coronavirus in Texas would exceed 5,000 in a single day — the biggest, single-day spike on record — state health officials made it official. On Tuesday, the illness rate grew by 5,489 new diagnoses just days after the Lone Star State crossed the 4,000 mark for the first time.

"There remain a lot of people in the state of Texas who think that the spread of COVID-19 is not a challenge,” Abbott told Bryan, Texas, television station KBTX before the daily tally from health officials came out early Tuesday evening. “The coronavirus is serious. It's spreading."

On its statistical dashboard updated daily, the Texas Department of State Health Services detailed the spike. To date, 120,370 cases of the respiratory illness have been recorded, according to the dashboard data. There have been 70,714 recoveries since the onset of illness but on Tuesday 28 more people died over the course of the last 24 hours. To date, 2,220 people have succumbed to the illness, the data show.

The counties with the greatest number of cases to date are:

• Harris County: 23,047 cases with 12,326 active cases.
• Dallas County: 17,299 cases, 5,525 active.
• Tarrant County: 9,126 cases, 4,326 active.
• Bexar County: 7,156 cases, 3,978 active.
• Travis County: 6,339 cases, 1,783 active.
• El Paso County: 4,677 cases, 1,132 active.
• Fort Bend County: 3,132 cases, 1,866 active.
• Potter County: 2,831 cases, 1,175 active.
• Collin County: 2,250 cases, 837 active.
• Denton County: 2,219 cases, 1,058 active.
• Galveston County: 1,968 cases, 1,146 active.

Prior to release of new data, the governor said on Monday the infection rate has doubled since late May to nearly 9 percent after an 11th consecutive day of record hospitalizations at 3,700.

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Given the exponential increases, Abbott is now strongly urging residents to wear protective face coverings as a way of blunting the spread of illness — even after previously instructed people to exercise their "individual responsibility" in making the wearing of such masks optional. In issuing the order, he warned officials at state municipalities to refrain from fining those not wearing masks, noting his order supersedes local ordinances.

Related story: Coronavirus: Texas Won't Shut Down Amid Illness Spikes

In a news conference on Monday, Abbott pivoted to focusing less on the exponential spread of illness than on available hospital bed availability. The governor acknowledged that pediatric hospitals are included in the available bed count, a point buttressed on Tuesday when Texas Children's Hospital — the nation's largest pediatric hospital — announced it was admitting adult patients at its campuses to free up hospital space across the city.