Gov. Greg Abbott expresses regret over reopening Texas bars during coronavirus
"If I could go back and redo anything, it probably would have been to slow down the opening of bars," Abbott said in a TV interview Friday evening. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott announces his plan to reopen the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.]()
Credit: Ricardo B. Brazziell/Pool/Austin American-Statesman -
Pence following through with visit to Dallas church as pandemic rages
The vice president was already scheduled to speak Sunday at First Baptist Dallas, though his trip is taking on a more somber tone as the state scrambles to respond to what Gov. Greg Abbott has described as a "massive outbreak" of coronavirus cases. Full Story
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![Vice President Mike Pence spoke to a crowd of supporters during a campaign event for U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions' re-election bid, at the Park Cities Hilton in Dallas Oct. 8, 2018.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
Federal government postpones plans to close five coronavirus testing sites in Texas
A bipartisan group of elected officials in Texas had urged the federal government not to close the sites. Full Story
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![Army National guard members at a mobile COVID-19 testing site at Uhland Elementary School in Uhland on June 18, 2020.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
How COVID-19 cases have grown in Texas' 11 most populous counties
New cases in Texas are approaching 6,000 per day, and nearly two-thirds of them have been recorded in 11 counties over the past two weeks. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about the categories of medical surge facilities during a press conference at the Texas Department of Public Safety on Tuesday, June 16, 2020.]()
Credit: Ricardo B. Brazziell/Pool via Austin American-Statesman -
Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas bars to close again and restaurants to reduce to 50% occupancy as coronavirus spreads
The moves, announced Friday morning, represent Abbott's most dramatic action yet in response to a surge in cases after he allowed businesses to reopen in the state. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott at a press conference at the state Capitol in Austin on Monday, June 22,2020.]()
Credit: Ricardo B. Brazziell/Pool via Austin American-Statesman -
Some Texas cities revive plans to add hospital bed capacity at convention centers if coronavirus cases climb
“The setting will be similar to a Medical-Surgical Unit with a capability of treating critical care patients," reads a description for a 100-bed site in Austin, according to an email obtained by The Texas Tribune. Full Story
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![A look inside an intensive care unit during a media tour of a medical shelter at NRG Park in Houston on April 11, 2020. The facility was built in less than a week for a possible overflow of COVID-19 in the greater Houston area.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott keeps businesses open despite surging coronavirus cases and rising deaths in Texas
“We can protect Texans’ lives while also restoring their livelihoods,” Abbott said this week. As cases surge, the question has become: How many Texans’ lives? Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott gives an update on Texas hospital bed capacity and state's strategy for fighting COVID-19 during a press conference at Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin on Tuesday, June 16, 2020.]()
Credit: Ricardo B. Brazziell/Pool via Austin American-Statesman -
Gov. Greg Abbott pauses Texas’ reopening, bans elective surgeries in four counties
For a second time since the start of the pandemic, Abbott banned elective surgeries to preserve bed space for coronavirus patients. But this time the hold on the nonessential procedures is only in effect for Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Travis counties. Full Story
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![The Baylor Scott and White Medical Center Hillcrest hospital in Waco on March 25, 2020.]()
Credit: Angela Piazza for The Texas Tribune -
Texans struggle to find work in the Rio Grande Valley, where unemployment has nearly tripled
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, limits on cross-border commerce and a downturn in the energy sector have hit the Rio Grande Valley's economy especially hard. Full Story
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![People cross the Mc Allen-Hidalgo International Bridge in Hidalgo.]()
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He removed labels that said “medical use prohibited,” then tried to sell thousands of masks to officials who distribute to hospitals
Using TaskRabbit and Venmo, a Silicon Valley investor and his business partner had workers repackage nonmedical KN95 masks so he could sell them to Texas emergency workers. Full Story
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![Jaime Rivera, a TaskRabbit worker, said the warning "medical use prohibited" was omitted when masks were moved from their original packaging, shown at left in an image shared by Rivera, into new packaging, right. A mask broker tried to sell them to the Texas Division of Emergency Management.]()
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Texas’ coronavirus positivity rate exceeds “warning flag” level Abbott set as businesses reopened
In early May, Gov. Greg Abbott pointed to the positivity rate — a ratio of positive COVID-19 tests to all tests — and said anything over 10% was cause for alarm. As of Wednesday, Texas exceeded that mark for the first time since April. Full Story
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![A health care worker takes a patient's information at an Austin Regional Clinic COVID-19 testing site on June 17, 2020.]()
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Lawmakers from both parties urge Trump administration to keep funding seven coronavirus testing sites
The federal government plans to cease funding for the sites at the end of June. Full Story
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![A coronavirus checkpoint in Houston.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
New York imposes travel restrictions on visitors from Texas, the latest coronavirus hot spot
The tables have turned: Texas previously had similar self-quarantining requirements for hot spots like New York and Louisiana. Now that Texas is the latest hot spot, states are imposing restrictions against travelers from the Lone Star State. Full Story
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![Delta Air Lines' new Airbus A220 jet rests between flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in April of 2019.]()
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Analysis: An accidental lesson on public health and politics in a pandemic
Texas government is going in two directions at once, with Gov. Greg Abbott blowing a whistle on rising COVID-19 numbers while top education officials detail plans to open public schools for in-person classes this fall. Full Story
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![Instructor's Aid, Nicole Johnson, walks JoAnn Zavala's pre-K students down the hall to music class, their first "specials" visit for the day, on Sept. 5, 2019.]()
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Gov. Greg Abbott recommends Texans stay home as coronavirus cases surge
The governor also moved for the first time to allow the tightening of two kinds of restrictions that had been eased under his reopening plan. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott adjusts his mask after giving an update on the categories of medical surge facilities at a press conference at the Texas Department of Public Safety on Tuesday, June 16, 2020.]()
Credit: Ricardo B. Brazziell/Pool via Austin American-Statesman -
Coronavirus patients crowd some Texas ICUs as Gov. Greg Abbott touts "abundant" hospital capacity
Regionally, some hospital officials are reporting that intensive care units are near or over capacity, and local leaders have warned that hospitals could get overwhelmed if the number of infections keeps climbing. Full Story
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![One of two surgical suites at Eastland Memorial Hospital.]()
Credit: Gary Rhodes for The Texas Tribune -
Texas to impose new safety rules for child care centers due to increase in coronavirus cases
Gov. Greg Abbott also issued an order allowing local officials to regulate public outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people. Those officials previously could only regulate events of over 500 people. Full Story
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![The University of Texas Child Development day care center in Austin on April 6, 2020.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Running for Congress while responding to a pandemic, these three Texans say they’re uniquely equipped for the job
Three Texas doctors didn’t know about the coronavirus when they filed to run for Congress this year, but now the pandemic has upended their professional and political lives. Full Story
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U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar calls Gov. Greg Abbott's leadership during coronavirus "a total failure"
During an interview with The Texas Tribune, Escobar, D-El Paso, said the state's leadership missed an opportunity to implement robust testing when an emergency was declared. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, speaks during a House Judiciary Committee markup of Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 12, 2019.]()
Credit: Matt McClain/Pool via REUTERS -
Texas is heading down a dangerous path, local leaders warn as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surge
When Gov. Greg Abbott let businesses start reopening, he pointed to two metrics as encouraging signs: the hospitalization rate and the infection rate. Both of those metrics are on the rise in Texas. Full Story
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![COVID-19 test samples are organized into coolers at a mobile testing site at Uhland Elementary School in Uhland on June 18, 2020.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune
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