MRT: TX COVID Deaths <100 for 1st Time in 5 Days; Houston’s COVID Surge Overwhelms Contact Tracing System; Chevron Buys Noble; West Elected RPT Chair
Here's What You Need to Know in Texas Today.
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BY: @MattMackowiak
MONDAY – 07/20/20
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TOP NEWS
"Texas daily fatalities drop below 100 for 1st time in five days,"ABC News'Jon Haworth, Matt Zarrell and Meredith Deliso -- "Texas reported 93 new COVID-19 fatalities on Sunday, the first time in five days the number of deaths has been below 100.
The death toll peaked on Friday, with a record 174 deaths, according to state data. The state has reported 3,928 total fatalities during the pandemic.
Hospitalizations remain above 10,000, with 10,592 reported on Sunday.
The state has 325,030 cases of COVID-19. The positivity rate was 15.03% as of Saturday, down from a record high of 17.43% two days prior." ABC News
"Rio Grande Valley hospitals also treating Mexican nationals seeking COVID-19 treatment," KVEO'sSydney Hernandez -- "As hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley remain packed and at capacity, doctors say they are not only treating Rio Grande Valley residents but people who crossed the border seeking medical attention.
“We are giving care to our population, but also to patients from Mexico, by law we must give medical attention to anyone who comes to our hospitals,” said Dr. Ivonne Lopez, M.D., Medical Director of McAllen Hospital Group at McAllen Medical Center.
Doctors on the frontline say legally they can not turn someone down for medical treatment.
“By law, if a patient arrives to our hospital, we need to provide all the care that is needed,” said Dr. Lopez.
The border is closed to non-essential travel, but according to CBP, “Individuals traveling for medical purposes, such as to receive medical treatment in the United States” is permitted." KVEO
"85 babies under 1 year old in Nueces County have tested positive for COVID-19 since mid-March,"The Texas Tribune's Alex Samuels -- "Eighty-five infants who are under the age of 1 have tested positive for the coronavirus in Nueces County since testing began there in March, county officials confirmed this weekend.
The county, which includes Corpus Christi, has become emblematic of the recent surge of coronavirus cases in the state. When the pandemic first started ravaging the state, Nueces County stayed relatively healthy while the Amarillo region suffered.
Now, however, the beachfront location has one of the fastest-growing outbreaks in the state, adding well over 2,000 new cases for each of the past two weeks.
In all, 8,407 people have tested positive for the coronavirus since mid-March. Children under the age of 1 represent about 1% of those positive cases. But the Nueces County number underscores that young people can be affected to the disease, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health experts report that the risk of severe illness increases with age.
One child under 1 has died in Nueces County after contracting the virus, but county officials say the child was "brought to the hospital with unrelated symptoms and tested for COVID-19 while at the hospital." The child later died at home, and an autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death." Texas Tribune
"Travis County: No new coronavirus deaths, total cases now 17,646," The Austin American-Statesman'sDanny Davis -- "Travis County health officials said there were nearly 200 confirmed new coronavirus cases on Sunday, but no new deaths were reported.
This marks only the second day this month that Travis County did not report any coronavirus-related deaths. Seven such fatalities — and 239 new cases — were recorded on Saturday.
The total number of COVID-19 deaths in Travis County remains at 203.
Travis County said Sunday evening that there were 192 new cases of the coronavirus in the county. That was the county’s third-lowest total of the month. One Sunday ago, Texas had 166 new cases. The next day, that number climbed to 657.
That spike last week snapped a streak of Sunday’s caseload being higher than Monday’s. In each of the previous three weeks, more new cases had been reported on Sunday than Monday.
To date, 17,646 cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Travis County. The county estimates that there have been recoveries in 14,059 of those cases. Currently, Travis County is counting 480 coronavirus-related hospitalizations and the usage of 110 ventilators." Austin American-Statesman
"Houston's surge of COVID-19 cases overwhelms contact tracing efforts," The Houston Chronicle's Zach Despart -- "The surge in COVID-19 cases since mid-May has strained the ability of Houston and Harris County’s health departments to investigate infected residents and find each person whom they could have exposed to the virus, public health officials leading the effort said.
Delays of up to several weeks in receiving lab results, which sometimes contain sparse or inaccurate contact information, mean contact tracers often miss a critical window to warn potentially pre-symptomatic COVID carriers to isolate away from family, friends and coworkers — a crucial step to limit the spread of the virus.
The county’s average daily new caseload of 1,579 is more than twice the number investigators can process, a failure that leaves the Houston area, once lauded by the White House as a model for how to manage COVID-19, struggling to regain control of the pandemic.
“The volume of new cases is more than we can keep up with at this point,” said Dr. David Persse, Houston’s health authority. “If people don’t isolate and don’t quarantine, that’s where the rubber meets the road. That’s what slows down the virus.”
Contact tracing is one of public health’s essential tools, since the 19th century a tried-and-true method of containing outbreaks of disease including typhoid, tuberculosis, measles and Ebola, University of Houston medical historian Helen Valier said. Researchers credit the method with helping South Korea contain its coronavirus outbreak in the early spring.
The tactic, however, typically is employed in small outbreaks, not uncontrollable transmission levels like those seen in Harris County since late May that make such detective work close to impossible.
“You don’t want a situation where it’s a raging fire all the time, where there are cinders falling and igniting different infection points,” Valier said. “You need to have some sort of control to have effective contact tracing, to have cases falling or at least plateaued.”
The tool has never before been used on an outbreak of this scale, said Crystal Watson, a Johns Hopkins Public Health scholar.
The National Association of County and City Health Officials recommends 30 tracers per 100,000 people to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. Using that formula, Harris County could need 1,410. Combined, the city and county have less than 600.
Likewise, the state’s contact tracing effort, meant to help local health departments, had met just 70 percent of its staffing goal at by the end of June.
“I don’t want to say it’s not feasible, but I just think it’s incredibly daunting to conduct tracing with this level of virus transmission going on in Houston, Harris County and the state of Texas,” said Peter Hotez, an infectious disease specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine. “For contact tracing to be successful you need to first bring down virus transmission to low levels, then have a contact tracing infrastructure in place.”" Houston Chronicle
"Stirring in the oil patch, Chevron buys Noble for $5 billion," via AP -- "Chevron will take over Noble Energy for $5 billion in the first big deal announced since the coronavirus pandemic shook the energy sector.
Chevron has been shopping for assets since last year and with crude prices down more than 30% this year, it jumped Monday with its all-stock offering for the independent Houston oil and gas driller.
Based on Chevron’s closing price on Friday, Noble Energy shareholders will receive 0.1191 shares of Chevron for each Noble Energy share. But with the list price comes a lot of debt.
Energy companies had been taking on enormous debt even before the pandemic and energy prices have bouncing all over the place. Noble is no exception.
The total enterprise value of the deal is $13 billion, with Chevron assuming Noble’s debt.
Last year, as it pursued potential buyout targets, Chevron lost out when Occidental Petroleum made a $38 billion deal for one of them, Anadarko, even though Chevron is five times the size of Occidental.
While Occidental’s valuable holdings in the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico appeared to be a good match, Chevron said at the time that it favored discipline over “winning at any cost.”
It’s found another match in Noble Energy.
The acquisition brings to Chevron low-cost, proven reserves in addition to cash-generating offshore assets in Israel, strengthening the company’s position in the Mediterranean. Noble’s portfolio will also add to Chevron’s U.S. acreage in the Permian Basin and in Colorado’s DJ Basin.
“Noble Energy’s multi-asset, high-quality portfolio will enhance geographic diversity, increase capital flexibility, and improve our ability to generate strong cash flow,” said Chevron Chairman and CEO Michael Wirth. “These assets play to Chevron’s operational strengths, and the transaction underscores our commitment to capital discipline.”
That discipline is mandatory for any company in the energy sector this year." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Governor Abbott sends five Navy teams throughout Texas to combat COVID-19,"News4SA'sDanielle Moody -- "Governor Abbott announced Sunday that the U.S. Department of Defense has sent five U.S. Navy teams to four locations in South and Southwest Texas to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
"The support from our federal partners is crucial in our work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our communities throughout Texas," said Governor Abbott. "I am grateful for this ongoing partnership with the Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy, and the State of Texas will continue to utilize every resource available to protect public health and keep Texans in every community safe."
Beginning July 19, one U.S. Navy Acute Care Team will provide support at the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen and four U.S. Navy Rural Rapid Response Teams will support hospitals in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Rio Grande City.
The teams consist of medical and support professionals being deployed to help meet medical needs in hospitals throughout the state of Texas." News4SA
"As COVID infections soar, Gov. Greg Abbott eludes media scrutiny,"The Houston Chronicle's Jeremy Blackman -- "One night earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott was pressed about his coronavirus response by a veteran Texas journalist on live television.
Had he waited too long to require masks? Why weren’t field hospitals already set up in struggling communities? If it’s safe enough for teachers to return to the classroom this fall, why are policymakers still allowed to stay home?
“Some people I know are showing up in their offices,” Abbott replied at one point, sounding rattled. “I haven’t gone down the hallway and checked attendance.”
The exchange, which aired on KRGV Channel 5 News, in McAllen, was a rare glimpse of a governor who likes to radiate poise and pragmatism, suddenly forced on the defensive amid a mounting health crisis that he alone has sought to control.
And because it aired on a local network, relatively few Texans saw it.
As state leaders across the country struggle to combat an evolving pandemic, many have done so on immense public stages, regularly going before scrums of reporters, fielding pointed questions and using their platforms to deliver harsh straight talk — about how far their states have come, and how far they have to go." Houston Chronicle
2020
"Former Florida congressman Allen West unseats James Dickey to become Texas GOP chairman,"The Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek -- "Allen West, the firebrand former Florida congressman, has defeated Texas GOP Chairman James Dickey to lead the country's largest state Republican Party.
West claimed victory shortly before 3:30 a.m. Monday, while Dickey conceded about an hour later. The developments came during an early-morning round of voting among state Senate district caucuses at the party's virtual convention.
"I wish Lt. Col. West the very best in this role," Dickey, who had been running for a second full term, wrote on Facebook. "Thank you for the honor of serving as your Chair. Let's win in November."
The concession came as voting was underway for state party chair in the 31 Senate district caucuses. While the party had not announced results by the time Dickey conceded, there were reports that West was easily winning more caucuses than Dickey — far more than the three caucuses required to force a floor vote. Dickey's statement indicated he did not plan to go that route.
West's victory came amid a tumultuous convention that had unraveled on Dickey's watch. There was so much dysfunction and delay that delegates voted late Sunday night to take up unfinished business at a second convention — after settling party leadership races.
The party's vice char, Alma Perez Jackson, was also facing a challenge, from Cat Parks, who chairs the Hamilton County party and had led a candidate recruitment task force created by Dickey. There was no clear result in that race early Monday morning." Texas Tribune
"Ted Cruz’s 2020 warning to Texas Republicans: ‘This is a real race’,"The Houston Chronicle's Jeremy Wallace -- "U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a dire message to Texas Republican activists on Saturday about the danger President Donald Trump faces in November here.
“This is a real race,” Cruz told the Republican Party’s convention audience, pointing to five consecutive polls that show Trump and Democrat Joe Biden neck-and-neck in the state.
And Cruz would know. In 2018, Cruz survived the fight of his political life, narrowly defeating El Paso Democrat Beto O’Rourke by less than 3 percentage points in what was the closest a Democrat has come to winning a U.S. Senate seat in Texas since Sen. Lloyd Bentsen carried the state in 1988. Cruz told the audience that what happened to him is a “warning sign” of the tough road that lays ahead.
“Let me tell you right now, every one of those crazed leftists that showed up in 2018 are showing up in 2020,” Cruz said. “And they are even angrier.”
Though Trump has scoffed at suggestions that Texas could pick Biden over him, and national Republicans publicly insist they have the race locked down here, Cruz’s message reflects the behind-the-scenes concern of a party that saw Democrats register more voters in 2018 and nearly double their turnout, even outspending Republicans in some races." Houston Chronicle
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
"Trump's offers confusion, contradictions on immigration order,"AP's Jill Colvin and Astrid Galvan -- "President Donald Trump is promising new executive action on immigration as he returns to the defining issue of his administration. But Trump has offered contradictory and confusing statements about his plans in recent days. His comments come after the Supreme Court rejected his efforts to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which protects young immigrants brought to the country as children. Trump said last month that he would quickly be filing paperwork to address the court’s concerns, but has yet to make a move.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID:
The latest confusion about Trump’s thinking started with a Telemundo interview earlier this month in which the president said he would soon be “signing an immigration bill” — “a very good bill and merit-based bill” — and that “one of the aspects of the bill is going to be DACA.”
“We’re going to have a road to citizenship,” he added.
The problem: No such bill exists to sign and there is zero appetite in Congress to wade into the divisive issue with four months to go before the election and in the middle of a pandemic.
Elsewhere in the interview, Trump said he would instead be signing “a big executive order” that would include DACA. “But, we put it in, and we’ll probably going to then be taking it out. We’re working out the legal complexities right now, but I’m going to be signing a very major immigration bill as an executive order,” he said.
White House spokesman Judd Deere quickly tried to walk back the meandering comments, saying that Trump was “working on an executive order to establish a merit-based immigration system to further protect U.S. workers.” Trump, he added, “has long said he is willing to work with Congress on a negotiated legislative solution to DACA” — one he said “could include citizenship” but not “amnesty.”
Trump apparently did not get the message.
“We’re going to take care of DACA because I’m going to be doing, in the not-too-distant future, pretty soon I’m going to be signing a new immigration action — very, very big merit-based immigration action that, based on the DACA decision, I’ll be able to do,” he said Tuesday, adding to the confusion.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday that Trump was “working on an executive order to establish a merit-based immigration system” and has “long said that he would look for a legislative solution on DACA, and he would work with Congress to pursue that legislative solution.”
WHAT’S AT STAKE:
There are about 650,000 people currently enrolled in DACA who would lose their protections against deportations and the ability to legally work in the country if Trump dismantles the program again. The program hasn’t accepted any new applications since 2017, and the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, estimates an additional 66,000 people would now meet the age requirement for the program if it were reinstated.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has not appeared to have been accepting new applications, even though some immigration lawyers argue that the Supreme Court ruling should require the program to return to its original form. A federal court on Friday restored the program to its original form, but it’s unclear whether USCIS will start accepting new applications.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that carries out deportations, has said it planned on removing DACA recipients who had existing immigration court cases if the program was rescinded. But it’s not clear when or how they would do that considering the agency’s limited resources.
WHAT ELSE MIGHT THE ORDER INCLUDE?
In addition to his complaints about illegal immigration, Trump has long railed against the country’s legal immigration system, saying it should favor high-skilled immigrants admitted for their “merit’ instead of those with family connections. While he has spent years trying to overhaul the immigration system, the coronavirus has allowed him to dramatically step up those efforts, including pausing the issuance of green cards to many people living outside the country, including the relatives of permanent residents, and suspending the diversity visa lottery for people from underrepresented countries.
Any new restrictions are likely to be challenged in court.
WHAT ABOUT LEGISLATION?
Congress deadlocked with Trump in 2018 over renewing the DACA program after Democrats and some Republicans refused to budge over his demands to add restrictions on legal immigration. With immigration a hot-button issue for both parties, the chances of a groundbreaking deal in the months before the November elections seem remote at best." AP
REMAINDERS
NASCAR CUP: "Dillon leads 1-2 RCR finish in Cup race before fans at Texas"AP
'MACK ON POLITICS' PODCAST
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We explore how he came to direct the film, what techniques he tried to use, why the story was important to him, how, where and when the film was shot, how it was released, and what the response has been.
Available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and on the web at http://www.MackOnPoliticsPodcast.com.
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