MRT: Abbott Responds to Rising Hospitalizations; Nine Mayors Ask Abbott for Authority to Enforce Masks; TX Dems Ask SCOTUS to Expand Mail Voting
Here's what you need to know in Texas today.
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WEDNESDAY – 06/17/20
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TOP NEWS
"Texas bars and restaurants were eager to reopen. Now some are closing their doors again as coronavirus cases rise,"The Texas Tribune's Mitchell Ferman -- "Celebrating her birthday in Galveston, Melinda Prince walked out of Yaga’s Cafe on Thursday full of coconut shrimp. What she didn’t realize was one of the employees at the restaurant may have been working while infected with the coronavirus.
Prince found out three days later through a post from the restaurant's Facebook account. “I freaked out,” said Prince, who plans to quarantine for two weeks and get tested if COVID-19 symptoms arise.
Facebook posts from Yaga's Cafe, whose managers did not respond to requests for comment, indicate other employees have since been tested for the coronavirus, the restaurant voluntarily closed, a professional cleaning crew was hired and recent customers were also encouraged to get tested.
The Galveston eatery is not alone. Restaurants and bars across Texas — including in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and San Marcos — have closed recently due to concerns about potentially spreading the coronavirus, according to social media posts and local news reports.
Those voluntarily closures come weeks into Gov. Greg Abbott's phased approach to letting businesses reopen in hopes of igniting the state's economy, which took a catastrophic hit from local and statewide business shutdowns in March and April. It also comes as local officials ask the governor to allow them to require that people wear face masks in public and as Austin Mayor Steve Adler is encouraging reopened businesses to voluntarily operate their indoor spaces at 25% or less of their full capacity.
And the closures come as the virus continues to spread in Texas. Tuesday was the fifth straight day of record-high hospitalizations of Texans with coronavirus, a worrying confirmation for health experts who predicted cases would rise after the state started reopening. Also Tuesday, the state reported that at least 2,000 Texans have died from the COVID-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus." Texas Tribune
"George Floyd killing energizes a new generation in fight against racism in East Texas," The Texas Tribune's Aliyya Swaby -- "Corneilius Shackelford Sr. used to shy away from debates about racism. But when his athletic training work dried up as coronavirus restrictions shut down Texas businesses, he had time to read about the latest incidents of police brutality against black people.
Shackelford, who is black and grew up in Tyler, began learning more about the virulent strain of racism and violence that runs through East Texas history, from 19th century lynchings up to the present day.
Although he’s only 32 years old, Shackelford learned there’s been a Ku Klux Klan rally in Tyler in his lifetime — in 1992, when about 30 Klan members from Waco showed up on the town square, met by about 300 protesters.
In the last few weeks, Shackelford helped create Fight for Justice East Texas, which has been organizing protests in Tyler in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis killed when a white police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes. The group’s events have drawn 100 to 300 people of all races, most between the ages of 18 and 31." Texas Tribune
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Gov. Abbott responds to alarm as Texas hospitals swell with coronavirus patients,"The Houston Chronicle's Jeremy Blackman -- "Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday dismissed growing alarm over hospitals now swelling with coronavirus patients, insisting there is still plenty of space available even as some facilities have neared or surpassed capacity.
Speaking on yet another day of record high hospitalizations, Abbott rejected new calls from municipal leaders for stricter safety requirements and said he is confident the state can continue to reopen as long as everyday Texans pitch in to contain the spread of new infections.
“As we begin to open up Texas and Texans return to their jobs, we remain laser-focused on maintaining abundant hospital capacity,” said Abbott, a Republican. “The best way to contain the spread of this virus is by all Texans working together and following simple safety precautions.”
On Tuesday, the Department of State Health Services reported just over 2,500 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, the highest single-day total since the pandemic began and nearly 67 percent more than on Memorial Day in late May. State and local leaders have pointed to the holiday weekend as one likely cause for the increase.
Statewide, there are still thousands of hospital beds and ventilators available. But in some of the largest cities, including San Antonio, Houston and Dallas, the surge is pushing new limits. In Harris County, some hospitals said late last week that their intensive care units were near or above capacity.
Bill McKeon, CEO of the Texas Medical Center, said the group’s number of COVID-19 patients has nearly doubled from its previous peak in late April. Many of the patients admitted now are younger and generally healthier, but are still susceptible to serious illness or death from the disease.
“If it continues to grow at this rate, we’re going to be in real trouble,” McKeon said of the admissions. He added that while it doesn’t seem feasible to reimpose lockdowns or other restrictions, state leaders should consider slowing the reopening if the uptick continues.
Abbott, though, appears committed to seeing the economic revival through, saying he also expects schools to reopen in the fall with students and teachers in classrooms. He has argued that the state’s overall death rate from COVID-19 is still low compared to other states, and that new cases are coming mostly from nursing homes, jails and prisons, where testing has increased and cases are easier to contain.
The governor also revived an earlier claim that Texans under the age of 30 represent a large portion of new cases, citing news accounts from select counties, and suggested that bars reopening could be the cause. On Monday, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission threatened to temporarily close down bars that fail to comply with limits on occupancy.
Abbott remained unwilling Tuesday to allow local officials to enforce their own mask ordinances, even as he acknowledged that many Texans are not wearing them. He instead accused Democratic county judges of not having done enough to punish businesses that fail to comply with other protocols, such as limits on public gatherings.
While they have the authority, Abbott said, many “haven’t lifted a finger.”
There have been thousands of citations issued since March over emergency violations, though analyses by Propublica and the Dallas Morning News found that they varied widely by county. On Tuesday, mayors in several cities, including Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth, sent a letter to the governor pleading for the ability to mandate masks." Houston Chronicle
"Gov. Greg Abbott says rising Texas coronavirus cases, hospitalizations are no need to worry,"The Dallas Morning News' Robert Garrett -- "Gov. Greg Abbott insisted Tuesday that all is going smoothly with Texas’ reopening, despite increases in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations in parts of the state.
Texas still has plenty of hospital capacity to deal with the rising number of people testing positive for COVID-19, he said, though he acknowledged that this month’s uptick in cases and hospitalizations is concerning.
Abbott stressed that he has various tools to handle an expanded outbreak, such as surge response teams for hotspots and the ability to again postpone elective surgeries to make more hospital beds available.
And the governor — while pleading for Texans to stay at home when they can, and wear masks when they go out — said local governments shouldn’t penalize Texans who do not wear face coverings in public.
Abbott rejected pleas that he allow localities to, say, fine those who don’t wear masks. Requests for local discretion flooded in to Abbott’s office Tuesday from Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Texas mayors, including Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and the mayors of four other North Texas cities — Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano and Grand Prairie." Dallas Morning News
"Texas mayors ask Gov. Abbott to let them enforce mask rules,"The Austin American-Statesman's Mark Wilson -- "A cadre of Texas mayors is asking Gov. Greg Abbott to allow local governments to draft and enforce rules requiring facial coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as cases increase in cities throughout the state.
Mayor Steve Adler, along with the mayors of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Arlington, Plano and Grand Prairie sent a letter to Abbott expressing their request shortly after he repeated on Tuesday that he won’t require Texans to wear facial coverings in public despite repeatedly urging the public to wear the coverings.
“This one step could prove to be the most effective way to prevent the transmission of this disease,” the letter said. “Yet many people in many of our cities are still refusing to wear these face coverings even though these coverings are scientifically proven to help prevent the disease from spreading.”
The letter said a one-size-fits-all approach is not the best option, and local governments should trust local officials to make informed choices about rules related to public health as the pandemic continues." Austin American-Statesman
2020
"Texas Democrats ask Supreme Court to expand mail-in voting,"Reuters' Brad Brooks -- "The Texas Democratic Party said on Tuesday it asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept its case seeking to expand vote-by-mail in the state ahead of this year’s elections, saying the coronavirus pandemic is likely to discourage turnout at the polls.
The move comes after a series of defeats in federal and state courts that upheld Texas law blocking provisions allowing voters to mail their ballots if they fear contracting the virus.
Early voting begins on June 29 for the July 14 primary run-offs in Texas. State law makes mail-in ballots available only for people 65 and older or if a citizen meets specific disability guidelines.
The Texas Democrats are asking the Supreme Court to lift a ruling by the 5th Circuit of Appeals earlier this month that blocked a federal judge’s decision that would have allowed any voter who feared contracting the coronavirus to vote by mail.
The party is also asking the court to take up the case in the fall on the merits of its assertion that Texas’ vote-by-mail law violates the 26th Amendment of the Constitution, giving citizens 18 years of age and older the right to vote.
The Texas Supreme Court last month ruled in a similar case brought by Democrats in state courts that fear of the coronavirus alone does not qualify someone to vote by mail.
Texas Democrats are looking to expand turnout during the pandemic. The party hopes to gain more ground on Republicans, who have slipped recently after holding a lock on Texas politics for decades." Reuters
"After chaotic March primary, new Harris County clerk seeks to avoid same mistakes in July runoff,"The Houston Chronicle's Zach Despart -- "Harris County’s March 3 primary in March was marred by long lines due to a misallocation of voting machines and a flawed website meant to show which polling sites had the shortest waits.
The night was embarrassing for local Democrats, who confronted the prospect that they had suppressed their own voters because former County Clerk Diane Trautman had signed off on a plan to place most polling sites in Republican county commissioner precincts, despite accurate projections of high Democratic turnout.
New County Clerk Christopher Hollins, who was appointed to replace Trautman, is hoping to avoid those mistakes for July’s runoff balloting through a series of improvements he announced Monday.
Hollins said he would allocate polling machines to locations based on turnout, extend voting hours and improve a website showing wait times at polling places.
“This office will do everything it can to give every Harris County voter an equal say at the ballot box,” Hollins said.
The clerk’s office announced a 23-point plan Monday to ensure the July 14 primary runoff and November general elections are “safe, secure, accessible, fair and efficient.”" Houston Chronicle
REMAINDERS
BAYLOR BEARS: "Texas Kickoff pushed back a day for Mississippi-Baylor"AP
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