Coronavirus: Texas Won't Shut Down Amid Illness Spikes

AUSTIN, TX — Despite record-setting levels of new cases of the coronavirus and related hospitalizations, Texas officials have no plans to scale back to stay-at-home rules to help blunt the spread of illness, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Monday.

During a news conference, Abbott said the average coronavirus case count in Austin is around 3,500 new cases per day with a positivity rate of more than 9 percent. Over the weekend, cases throughout Travis County and the Austin area rose surged to 6,210 on Monday compared to 4,991 that Austin Public Health officials logged on Friday.

But Abbott vowed that the state economy reopening won't be rolled back anytime soon: “To state the obvious, COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas, and it must be corralled,” he said. "We must find ways to return to our daily routines as well as finding ways to coexist with COVID-19."

Yet in the next breath, the governor added: “Closing down Texas again will always be the last option.”

The dramatic increase prompted Austin Mayor Steve Adler to plead with residents to take the coronavirus threat seriously. He noted in his open letter that the risk of catching the virus causing respiratory illness is three times higher than it was a mere two weeks ago.

Despite such surges, Abbott said there are no plans to scale back on an ongoing reopening of businesses in efforts to reignite the coronavirus-stalled economy. Instead, he urged people to wear masks when outdoors and to stay at home whenever possible — buttressing his point by wearing a red, white and blue mask himself during the news conference.

He urged residents to follow the Minimum Standard Health Protocols established by the Texas Department of State Health Services to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as Texas continues to safely and strategically open the economy.

"COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in the state of Texas, and it must be corralled," Abbott said. "We have several strategies to reduce the spread without shutting Texas back down, but it is up to all of us to do our part to protect ourselves and others. We need all Texans to follow the safety protocols developed by our team of medical experts, including staying home if you are sick or at risk, sanitizing your hands, social distancing, and wearing face coverings or masks. COVID-19 hasn't gone away, but neither has our ability to slow the spread of it. Texans have shown that we don't have to choose between jobs and health—we can have both. We can protect lives while also restoring livelihoods. Together, we will keep Texans safe and we will keep our state open for business."

However, the governor acknowledged the upticks in illness which were illustrated with large charts showing trend lines for hospitalization, daily new cases and the positivity rate. All showed a flattening until about Memorial Day before showing spikes on all three charts. "To state the obvious, COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas," Abbott said. "If those spikes continue, additional measures are going to be necessary.”

He said further measures may be necessary if upward trends continue. He didn't specify what those measures might be.

"We remain flexible to implement additional strategies if needed to contain the coronavirus," he said. "The way hospitalizations are spiking, the way daily new cases are spiking, surely the public can understand additional measures might be necessary."

The need for heightened safeguards will be more clear in the coming days, he added: "If we were to experience another doubling of those numbers in the next couple of months, that will mean we are in an urgent situation where more measures will be necessary to curb the spread of COVID-19."

In assuaging the public, Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, noted 62 million personal protection equipment items have been distributed to first responders across the state, and another 24 million are in inventory. In addition, he said 840 testing sites remain open across Texas for people to be screened for the virus.

"There is plenty of PPE in our inventory right now," Kidd said. "That's one of the few times you've heard me say that.

Abbott acknowledged the recent spikes: "Where we are at this pandemic if you look at growth or even the decline of people testing positive, Texas was moving in a very productive position," he said. "Then, around the time of Memorial Day, there was an increase."

But when asked of his decree making the wearing of masks as being optional while extolling the virtues of individual responsibility, Abbott said the need to wear masks is greater in some part of Texas than others. "There is a differentiation about the level of spread throughout Texas," he said, noting how the need for mask wearing in the city of Austin is different from that in Austin County. "We need to have latitude with that differentiation. Whereas in other areas fo the state there is no requirement to wear masks because there are either no coronavirus cases or few corona cases."

Abbott urged residents to visit open.texas.gov to learn more about the Minimum Standard Health Protocols and how they can help the Lone Star State slow the spread of COVID-19.

“When you go out, you should wear a face covering or mask,” Abbott said. “I also know that wearing a mask will help us keep Texas open,” he said.

From earlier:

AUSTIN, TX — Gov. Greg Abbott will provide an update on the state's response to the coronavirus on Monday, his office said.

The news conference is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. Given the continued need for physical distancing to help blunt the spread of illness, preselected news organizations have been tapped to represent the media at large in what's called "pool" coverage. As a result, live video coverage can be viewed via KXAN. The live feed also can be viewed on WFAA.

Scheduled updates from the governor comes as Texas has seen exponential spikes in the respiratory illness since Abbott launched a reopening of the state economy on May 1. This weekend marked the emergence of record-setting spikes across Texas, including Sunday when the 10th consecutive day of new highs was recorded along with the second-highest number of coronavirus cases to date.

The levels have sparked an increase in testing, according to state officials. More than 62,000 tests for the virus were recorded on a Texas Department of State Health Services on Saturday, the most ever logged in a single day. The agency's statistical dashboard shows there have been 111,601 cases of the respiratory illness diagnosed to date. So far, 2,182 fatalities have been recorded.

The governor's office issued the coordinates for the KXAN live feed:

• Window: 1345 – 1600 (CT)
• Bird SES 2 12 A
• Uplink: 14224.625 H
• Downlink:11924.625 V
• Lband: 1174.625
• Data Rate: 10.294
• Symbol Rate: 4.25
• F.E.C.: 5/6
• Modulation: DVB-S2 8PSK