Community Corner

Texas Gains More Than 10K New Coronavirus Cases, 60 New Deaths

The Lone Star State reached a grim record on Tuesday with 10,028 new respiratory illness cases emerging in a 24-hour period.

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AUSTIN, TX — Texas crossed the 10,000 mark in terms of new cases of the coronavirus, shattering the previous record by more than 2,000. The state also reported 60 more deaths in the same 24-hour period.

A total of 10,028 new cases were diagnosed on Tuesday, up 10,028 from the previous day. The uptick raises the total number of coronavirus cases to date now stands at 210,585 the day after the state reached the 200,000 mark. The 60 new deaths reported brings the historical fatality rate to 2,715.

The updated statistics are provided on a dashboard maintained by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Tuesday's all-time high of new daily diagnoses comes six days after more than 8,000 new cases of the respiratory illness were reported on July 1, reaching a record for that time.

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According to the state dashboard, the counties with the highest counts of coronavirus to date are:

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  • Harris: 37,776 cases
  • Dallas: 27,054 cases
  • Bexar: 15,102 cases
  • Tarrant: 14,828 cases
  • Travis: 11,926 cases
  • El Paso: 7,642 cases
  • Hidalgo: 5,345 cases
  • Galveston: 4,586 cases
  • Fort Bend: 4,286 cases
  • Nueces: 4,084 cases
  • Collin: 3,707 cases
  • Denton: 3,403 cases
  • Hays: 3,193 cases
  • Williamson: 3,151 cases
  • Potter: 2,978 cases
  • Jefferson: 2,959 cases

Texas counties with deaths in the triple digits are:

  • Dallas: 401
  • Harris: 401
  • Tarrant: 238
  • Travis: 144
  • El Paso: 139
  • Bexar: 132

Illness spikes prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to recently order bars along with tubing and rafting operations to close again and put the brakes on his own, multi-phased economic reopening — a move which amounted to allowing already-opened businesses to operate at full occupancy.

Last week, Abbott issued an executive order that mandated mask-wearing, and banned all elective surgeries and medical procedures to make hospital space available for a potential influx of new coronavirus patients. He also granted municipalities greater authority in limiting the size of crowds.

Despite his reversal on the wearing of fabric face coverings, the governor has exempted those attending church services or voting in the upcoming primary runoff elections from wearing them. "Your constitutional rights are not voided simply because of a pandemic," Abbott told KBTX in Bryan, as reported by the Texas Tribune.

In issuing an executive order on June 23 mandating their use otherwise, Abbott said: "Wearing a face covering in public is proven to be one of the most effective ways we have to slow the spread of COVID-19. We have the ability to keep businesses open and move our economy forward so that Texans can continue to earn a paycheck, but it requires each of us to do our part to protect one another — and that means wearing a face covering in public spaces."

Many observers have cast Texas as something of a cautionary tale given its early reopening starting May 1 amid an illness pandemic. Abbott was the second governor to attempt and economic jump-start — one week after Georgia launched similar efforts — in a process he insisted was being guided by "doctors and data."

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