AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order limiting public gatherings to 10 people, shutting schools, prohibiting visitors to nursing homes and retirement communities and limiting bars and restaurants to take-out through April 3 in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. He also recommended that non-essential state employees telework.
The virus’s quick spread is sparking a dramatic response from Republican state leaders, who until now had been letting local officials issue guidance on closures. About 140 Texans have tested positive for COVID-19 and three people have died since the first case on March 4.
“The traditional model that we have employed in the state of Texas for such a long time so effectively does not apply to an invisible disease that knows no geographic or jurisdictional boundaries,” Abbott, said at a press conference.
The state issued a public health disaster order, the first such order since 1901, according Abbott.
Abbott said he expects testing capacity to reach 15,000 to 20,000 tests per week. So far, about 2,000 people have been tested in the state. And he said that hospitals are prepared for a potential surge in critically-ill patients, but didn’t say whether the state is requesting military hospitals from the federal government. The state is exploring the possibility of using medical tents to care for patients.
The order doesn’t have a threat of penalty, but Abbott suggested that such a move could be on the table if people don’t voluntarily comply with orders.
“The more that people do to reduce their public contact the sooner the COVID-19 will be contained,” he said. “Working together we must defeat COVID-19 with the only tool we have available to us. We must strangle its expansion by reducing the ways that we are currently transmitting it.”
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/19/texas-governor-coronavirus-lockdown-orders-137691
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