MRT: Austin, Houston Officials Warn of Hospital Capacity, Ask for Lockdowns; TX Grapples with Serious Outbreaks; Hegar Boasts Big Fundraising Lead
Here's What You Need to Know in Texas Today.
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BY: @MattMackowiak
MONDAY – 07/06/20
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TOP NEWS
"Texas leaders warn of hospital capacity, ask for lockdowns,"AP'sJake Bleiberg -- "Leaders in two of Texas’ biggest cities are calling on the governor to empower local governments to order residents to stay home as the state’s continued surge in coronavirus cases tests hospital capacity.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that he wants Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, to return control of his city to the local government as its hospitals face a potential crisis.
“If we don’t change the trajectory, then I am within two weeks of having our hospitals overrun,” Adler, a Democrat, said. “And in our ICUs, I could be 10 days away from that.”
Texas reported 3,449 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Sunday, after a record high of 8,258 Saturday. State health officials also reported 29 additional deaths, bringing the totals to 2,637 fatalities and 195,239 confirmed cases. A record 8,181 Texans with COVID-19 were hospitalized Sunday.
The true number of cases is likely much higher because many people have not been tested and studies suggest that people can be infected and not feel sick.
The Fourth of July weekend has also seen some defiance of Abbott’s orders closing bars and requiring people to wear face coverings in public in much of the state.
The mask order — which carries a $250 fine — came as part of the most dramatic about-face Abbott has made as he retreats from what stood out as one of America’s swiftest reopenings.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top county official in the Houston area, said she’s grateful for the mask mandate but that a stay-at-home order is needed.
“We don’t have room for incrementalism, we’re seeing these kinds of numbers, nor should we wait for all the hospital beds to fill and all these people to die, before we take drastic action,” Hidalgo, a Democrat, told ABC’s “This Week.”
Houston has rapidly become one of the American cities hit hardest by the virus. In addition to strained hospital capacity, it needs help meeting the demand for testing, Mayor Sylvester Turner told CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.
Over the last month, the proportion of tests that come back positive for the virus has rocketed from about one in 10 to nearly one in four, Turner, a Democrat, said." AP
Sunday Talk Shows:
> CBS' "Face the Nation": Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner -- video.
> ABC's "This Week": Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo -- video.
> CNN's "State of the Union": Austin Mayor Steve Adler -- video.
"Once lauded for its COVID-19 response, Texas now grapples with one of the country's worst outbreaks,"The Houston Chronicle's Zach Despart, Jeremy Blackman and Jasper Scherer -- "In Houston, the largest medical campus in the world has exceeded its base intensive care capacity. In the Rio Grande Valley, elected officials pleaded last week for military intervention to avoid a “humanitarian crisis.” And in several major cities, testing sites are overrun, with appointments disappearing in minutes and hundreds waiting in line for hours.
Eight weeks ago, the White House lauded Texas as a model for containing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to reopen the economy has unraveled as the state struggles to contain one of the worst outbreaks in the country.
“We’re on the verge of a nightmarish catastrophe,” said Vivian Ho, a health economist at Rice University and the Baylor College of Medicine. “On May 1, I thought we actually had a chance to get this virus under control and get the economy opened up safely. I’m not sure we can get it under control anymore.”
Public health experts say the worst of the crisis was avoidable in Texas, where Abbott stripped local officials of the ability to manage their own outbreaks and until Thursday refused to mandate masks and other basic mitigation practices. The governor reopened before the state could adequately monitor the virus, health experts said, then ignored signs in late May that infections were beginning to run rampant.
“That is the point at which you say, ‘Hang on a sec, we’re staying where we are,’ and are probably taking a step back to understand the scale of the problem here,” said Bill Hanage, an associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Without the tools in place to test quickly for infections and track those exposed, authorities believe the state was left blinded as the virus spread among younger Texans, who are less likely to develop symptoms.
Spokesmen for Abbott and state Health Commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt did not respond to requests for comment. Asked at a televised town hall Thursday why he had not mandated masks sooner, the governor said the “data was only recently bad.”
“It was only in the past couple of weeks that we saw this spike in people testing positive,” Abbott said.
The state now lurches into the Fourth of July weekend worse off than at any point since the pandemic began, according to several measures. COVID-19 deaths remain low compared with other states, but health experts warn they likely will pick up as older Texans continue contracting the virus.
By the end of April, nearly 2 million Texans had lost their jobs as coronavirus shutdowns pummeled the national economy. A historic oil bust darkened state revenue forecasts and placed additional pressure on Abbott — especially from a vocal minority of hard-line conservatives — to reopen businesses before Texas saw a sustained decline in cases.
On April 27, Abbott said he would reopen the state in phases based on data and guidance from medical professionals, pledging not to simply “open up and hope for the best.”
His advisers laid out four criteria to guide the reopening: a two-week reduction in cases, hospital capacity for all patients, the ability to conduct 30,000 daily viral tests and a goal to hire 4,000 contact tracers.
Abbott, however, did not commit to following them. Only in mid-June would the state begin meeting its testing goal. It has yet to hire enough contact tracers or see a sustained drop in infections." Houston Chronicle
"As Coronavirus Slams Houston Hospitals, It’s Like New York ‘All Over Again’,"The New York Times' Sheri Fink -- "As Houston’s hospitals face the worst outbreak of the virus in Texas, now one of the nation’s hot zones, Dr. Bakshy and others are experiencing some of the same challenges that their New York counterparts did just a few months ago and are trying to adapt some lessons from that crisis.
Like New York City in March, the Houston hospitals are experiencing a steep rise in caseloads that is filling their beds, stretching their staffing, creating a backlog in testing and limiting the availability of other medical services. Attempts to buy more supplies — including certain protective gear, vital-sign monitors and testing components — are frustrated by weeks of delays, according to hospital leaders.
Methodist is swiftly expanding capacity and hiring more staff, including local nurses who had left their jobs to work in New York when the city’s hospitals were pummeled. “A bed’s a bed until you have a staff,” said Avery Taylor, the nurse manager of a coronavirus unit created just outside Houston in March.
But with the virus raging across the region, medical workers are falling ill. Dr. Bakshy was one of the first at Methodist to have Covid-19, getting it in early March. As of this past week, the number of nurses being hired to help open new units would only replace those out sick." New York Times
"Remains of missing soldier Vanessa Guillén identified by Army, family says,"The Washington Post's Alex Horton -- "Army investigators have positively identified the remains of Spc. Vanessa Guillén, her family told The Washington Post on Sunday, more than two months after she vanished from Fort Hood.
Remains discovered Tuesday in a shallow grave east of the Texas installation triggered a manhunt that ended when one suspect — Spc. Aaron Robinson — killed himself as officers closed in, the Army said.
Robinson’s girlfriend was charged with evidence tampering and said she helped dispose of the body, court records show.
Guillén’s disappearance, and her family’s allegations that she was sexually harassed, drew attention from activists, lawmakers, celebrities and other soldiers. The family has also complained that the Army’s search for the 20-year-old soldier lacked urgency and care at the highest levels." Washington Post
"Villain or victim? How Dallas hotelier Monty Bennett became PPP's face of corporate greed,"The Dallas Morning News' Natalie Walters -- "When the public spotlight finds Monty Bennett, it leaves scorch marks.
The hotel magnate was cast as a face of corporate greed in the COVID-19 era after applying in April for $126 million in forgivable loans from the government’s Paycheck Protection Program, which was designed as a way for struggling businesses to pay employees during the pandemic. Small-business owners saw PPP as a lifeline for them, not publicly traded companies.
The at least $69 million that Bennett’s companies got was the largest payout in the country. And his generous political contributions to another hotelier, President Donald Trump, immediately came under scrutiny — especially a $50,000 donation to the Trump Victory Committee in March.
Nearly overnight, people fearful of the economic freight train running through the country chose Bennett as their punching bag. Social media was filled with snarky attacks about his wealth and the luxury hotels filling his portfolio. The agency in charge of PPP moved quickly to change the rules for who qualified, forcing him to return the money in May.
It wasn’t his first public showdown.
In 2014, he took on a fight with the Tarrant Regional Water District to protect his three-generations-old, 1,500-acre East Texas ranch from a pipeline. He brought endangered animals onto his land and plotted a new cemetery where the water line was to go and, in the end, won the dispute with an out-of-court settlement that diverted the pipeline around his property.
Little did he know that would amount to a practice run for his moment on the national stage.
Absent from much of the PPP criticism was that hoteliers were allowed to apply for loans for each of their locations and 75% of the $69 million that would have gone to Bennett’s companies was intended to keep employees working, according to U.S. Small Business Administration rules for who received PPP funds.
In Bennett’s case, the loans would have helped the 13,000 employees at his companies and their more than 130 hotels around the U.S. and the Caribbean. The money was awarded to Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc., which owns some luxury properties in the Caribbean; Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc., which owns more than 100 hotels around the U.S.; and his Dallas-based firm, Ashford Inc., which manages both.
“What they did may not have been illegal, but the question is if it was in the spirit of the program,” said Philip Mattera, research director of Good Jobs First, an organization that’s tracking how coronavirus relief money is being spent. “The whole program was sold as something to help small businesses, from the small corner grocer to the neighborhood coffee shop.”
Asked to reflect on becoming a lightning rod, Bennett blamed the news media. He’s also critical of how SBA rewrote the rules after controversy engulfed it.
“The backlash occurred because the media reported outright falsehoods or implied wrongdoing,” said Bennett, who agreed to answer questions from The Dallas Morning News only by email. “So my employees suffered, and this is why so many people hate the media.”
Last year, his three companies had combined revenue of nearly $2.3 billion. But no hotel was spared from the financial strain that the pandemic caused when it shut down business and leisure travel, as well as conferences and events. Overall, U.S. hotel revenue dropped about 83% year-over-year in April, according to research firm STR.
Bennett’s two real estate investment trusts both laid off 90% of their property-level staff. April went down as the worst month on record for the U.S. leisure and hospitality industry, with a loss of 7.7 million jobs — or nearly half of all positions, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It was devastating,” Bennett said. “It still is. To have to lay off over 90% of my workforce, many of whom are friends and who I’ve worked with for decades … absolutely devastating.”
The leisure and hospitality industry added 2.1 million jobs in June, but the path to recovery is hazy and may be dependent on a vaccine. “Partially, but not fully” is how Bennett describes the hotel industry’s recovery chances without a vaccine." Dallas Morning News
"'Kill 'em': Houston GOP powerbroker Steve Hotze left Greg Abbott a voicemail requesting that National Guard 'shoot to kill' rioters,"The Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek -- "In the days after George Floyd's killing in police custody in Minneapolislast month, as massive protests against police brutalityspread across Texas and other states, conservative power broker Steve Hotze of Houstoncalled Gov. Greg Abbott's chief of staff to pass along a message.
"I want you to give a message to the governor," Hotze told Abbott's chief of staff, Luis Saenz, in a voicemail. "I want to make sure that he has National Guard down here and they have the order to shoot to kill if any of these son-of-a-bitch people start rioting like they have in Dallas, start tearing down businesses — shoot to kill the son of a bitches. That’s the only way you restore order. Kill 'em. Thank you."
The voicemail, which The Texas Tribune obtained Friday via a public information request, came on the weekend of June 6, several days after Abbott activated the Texas National Guard as some of the protests became violent. It is unclear whether Saenz responded, and Abbott's office declined to comment on the voicemail.
A Hotze spokesperson said he was not immediately available for comment. However, several hours after the publication of this story, Hotze shared it on his personal Facebook page and another Facebook page affiliated with him.
"It’s not about race but has everything to do with the future of America — the freest and most progressive country in the world," Hotze wrote on the second Facebook page. "It’s about those who burn homes and businesses, including those owned by African-Americans, and attack law enforcement. Enough is enough."
Hotze's voicemail brought a sharp rebuke Saturday from U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who called it "absolutely disgusting and reprehensible" via Twitter.
The voicemail brings into sharp relief the incendiary views of Hotze, a staunch critic of Abbott's response to the coronavirus pandemic who has repeatedly challenged the governor's emergencyorders in court. The latest lawsuit came Friday, taking aim at Abbott's statewide mask mandate announced a day earlier.
“This draconian order is contrary to the Texas spirit and invades the liberties the people of Texas protected in the constitution," the lawsuit says." Texas Tribune
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Gromer Jeffers, Jr. column: "Texas Gov. Abbott needs your help to beat the coronavirus: Wear a mask," via The Dallas Morning News-- "As the COVID-19 pandemic rages in Texas and much of the nation, President Donald Trump says he hopes the virus will simply vanish.
That would be ideal for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s faced with mitigating the increase of coronavirus cases as more residents are going back to work, eating at restaurants, shopping at stores and congregating for leisure activities.
The rate of positive test cases in Texas is nearing 15%. In May, after much of the state had stayed at home to avoid being exposed to the virus, the rate of positive tests was under 5%.
Last week for the first time, Dallas County recorded over 1,000 cases in one day. And statewide cases have seen extraordinary increases, making much of Texas a national hot spot for COVID-19.
Abbott reopened the economy, and for a little while the pandemic seemed under control. But after the Memorial Day holiday and a decision to move from phase one with seemingly warp speed, the coronavirus reared with a vengeance.
Abbott is up against it.
He’s mindful of the people who are off work or lost their jobs. In his view, the economic pain is as devastating has the health concerns brought by the virus.
That’s why the governor won’t shut down the economy for a second time. He’s also resisting giving local governments the power to send residents back to shelter.
But last week Abbott reversed course and mandated people over age 10 wear face coverings inside businesses and other buildings or spaces open to the public.
His order, which took effect Friday, also requires masks outside in public spaces when it’s not feasible to stay 6 feet apart from others. There are some exceptions, including for people who are eating, drinking, exercising, voting or worshipping. The requirements apply in counties with 20 or more positive COVID-19 cases.
“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,” Abbott said. “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.”
Abbott has flip-flopped on the face covering mandate.
In April, he blocked local officials from penalizing people who don’t wear masks, a move that undermined the efforts of local officials to require face coverings in public. Now those who don’t follow Abbott’s latest order first face a warning and then fines of up to $250 for any additional offense." Dallas Morning News
2020
Gilbert Garcia column: "Cruz and Trump on opposite sides of congressional runoff battle," via The San Antonio Express-News-- "If endorsements were votes, Tony Gonzales would have locked up the District 23 Republican race months ago.
The affable former Navy cryptologist almost immediately established himself among party leaders as the Republican candidate most likely to thread the needle and keep this sprawling, heavily Latino congressional swing district in GOP hands.
Gonzales got the backing of the outgoing District 23 congressman, Will Hurd, Land Commissioner George P. Bush, former Gov. Rick Perry, former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, Houston Congressman Dan Crenshaw and the two top Republican leaders in the U.S. House: Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise.
By comparison, Gonzales’s runoff opponent, Raul Reyes Jr., has been treated like a party crashing rogue by GOP leaders.
Up until Tuesday, the biggest endorsement Reyes could claim was from Ted Nugent, the celebrated composer of “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang.”
That all changed with the bombshell announcement that Ted Cruz, the biggest star in the Texas Republican constellation, was not only endorsing Reyes, but launching an ad buy featuring a 30-second video testimonial from Cruz." San Antonio Express-News
"MJ Hegar maintains big fundraising lead over Royce West in U.S. Senate runoff,"The Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek -- "MJ Hegar raised over $1.7 million in the second quarter of 2020, her campaign announced Thursday, unveiling a haul that marks her best three-month period yet while seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Hegar's runoff opponent, Royce West, took in $430,000 over a slightly shorter period, his campaign said after Hegar's announcement.
Hegar's campaign said she had $1.6 million cash on hand as of June 24, the last day covered by her latest campaign finance report, which is due to the Federal Election Commission by the end of Thursday. West had $160,000 in reserves as of June 24, according to his campaign.
Hegar, a former Air Force helicopter pilot, is the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's choice in the July 14 runoff to take on Cornyn. Announcing her second-quarter haul, Hegar said in a statement she has has "built the grassroots operation it is going to take to send John Cornyn packing in November."
The campaign of West, a Dallas state senator who would become Texas' first Black U.S. senator, said it was "very pleased" with its numbers "given that the Washington establishment has had their thumb on the scale against Royce West and ethnic minorities in this race." West's supporters have speculated, without giving specifics, that the DSCC is telling donors not to give to him. The DSCC has denied the suggestion." Texas Tribune
TEXANS IN DC
"Ted Cruz To Introduce Legislation Holding City Officials Accountable For Injuries From Rioting,"The Daily Caller's Phillip Nieto and Henry Rodgers -- "Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz will “soon” introduce legislation that will hold city officials financially responsible for damaged property and injuries sustained from rioting.
“Sen. Cruz is working on a legislative proposal that will hold city officials financially responsible for the property damages and personal injuries that result from their decision to allow autonomous zones and/or order officers to stand down in the midst of rioting and looting,” A spokesperson for Cruz’s office told The Daily Caller.
Cruz has not set a firm date for when the legislation will be introduced, but his office tells the Caller that it will happen “soon.” The senator revealed his legislative plans on the “Hannity Show” last night while discussing the nationwide unrest in cities.
“Sen. Cruz believes that government officials’ first responsibility is to protect the American people. We’ve seen violent rioters take to the streets in Minneapolis, New York City, and Seattle – where they’ve burned businesses and communities to the ground, toppled and defaced statues, and taken the lives of their fellow citizens,” added the Cruz spokesperson." Daily Caller
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