MRT: TX Hits 5,000 New Cases for 1st Time; Abbott: Stay Home; U.S. Army Suspects Foul Play in Guillen Disappearance; TEA to Leave Plans to Schools
Here's what you need to know in Texas today.
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WEDNESDAY – 06/24/20
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TOP NEWS
"Texas hits 5,000 new cases for first time as virus surges,"AP's Paul J. Weber -- "Rapidly worsening coronavirus numbers in Texas reached bleak new milestones Tuesday as the state surpassed 5,000 new cases in a single day for the first time and hospitalizations again hit record numbers, leading the largest pediatric hospital in the U.S. to begin treating adult patients in Houston.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott stressed that the public “comprehend the magnitude of the challenge” ahead and, in a first since Texas lifted lockdown orders in May, empowered cities and counties to immediately put tighter restrictions on large gatherings.
The move reflected a more urgent tone Abbott is now taking after previously asserting that Texas’ rising numbers raised concerns, but not alarms. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that “the next couple weeks are going to be critical” in Texas and other states that are trying to curtail an alarming spike in new cases.
It was only last weekend that Texas surpassed 4,000 cases in a single day for the first time. On Tuesday, the record shot up to more than 5,400 new cases, and although Texas is testing more people, the rate of people testing positive inched closer to 10 percent — the highest it has been since mid-April, when Texas was still under stay-at-home orders.
Abbott says shutting down the economy again is a last resort. He is now emphasizing face coverings more strenuously than at any point during the pandemic but continues to resist calls from cities, business groups and teachers to make masks mandatory.
“There remain a lot of people in the state of Texas who think that the spread of COVID-19 is not a challenge,” Abbott told Bryan television station KBTX. “The coronavirus is serious. It’s spreading.”
Infection rates in Texas has doubled since late May, and on Tuesday, the state reached an 12th consecutive day of record COVID-19 hospitalizations with more than 4,000. That amounts to a more than 170 percent increase in hospitalizations since Memorial Day, although Abbott and the Texas Hospital Association have stressed there remains ample capacity for now.
However, some of the state’s largest medical centers are beginning to carve out more space.
Texas Children’s Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in the United States, said Tuesday it was admitting adult patients across its campuses to free up more hospital bed space in the Houston area. The number of COVID-19-positive hospital patients in Harris County, which encompasses Houston, has nearly tripled since May 31." AP
"Gov. Greg Abbott recommends Texans stay home as coronavirus cases surge,"The Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek -- "With cases of the coronavirus surging to record levels in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott recommended Tuesday that Texans stay home as much as possible and for the first time moved to allow the tightening of two kinds of restrictions that had been eased under his reopening plan.
"We want to make sure that everyone reinforces the best safe practices of wearing a mask, hand sanitization, maintaining safe distance, but importantly, because the spread is so rampant right now, there’s never a reason for you to have to leave your home," Abbott said during an early-afternoon interview with KBTX-TV in Bryan. "Unless you do need to go out, the safest place for you is at your home."
Within hours, Abbott made two announcements to alter the reopening process. He scaled back a previous statewide order and gave local officials the ability to place restrictions on outdoor gatherings of over 100 people, a threshold he originally set at 500 people. And Abbott said the state would enact mandatory health standards for child care centers after prior rules became voluntary earlier this month.
The moves came a day after Abbott said at a news conference that the coronavirus was spreading at an "unacceptable rate" but did not offer any new policies to stem the virus' spread. Instead, he reiterated long-established guidelines such as social distancing and pointed out that the state was increasingly cracking down on businesses that allow large crowds. At the news conference, Abbott also encouraged Texans to stay home, albeit in less explicit terms than he did in the KBTX interview." Texas Tribune
"Texas’ biggest public universities will require masks this fall. Enforcement will be a challenge,"The Texas Tribune's Raga Justin -- "Determined to see students return to college in the fall, some of Texas' biggest universities are requiring face masks as a safeguard against the coronavirus. But enforcing those policies could prove difficult for institutions with tens of thousands of students and sprawling campuses.
Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University officials have all announced that masks will be non-negotiable next semester. Each campus will require masks in buildings other than private offices or rooms and will encourage masks outdoors when social distancing is difficult.
Public health experts, following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have long advised that wearing face masks is the best way to prevent transmission when social distancing isn’t feasible. But mask policies have roused naysayers across Texas, who argue that enforcement in the form of fines or jail time is a violation of their rights.
State leaders, originally loath to publicly endorse mask policies, have recently been urging mask use as case counts and hospitalizations continue to hit record highs. Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott said local officials could require businesses to mandate masks after he previously banned local governments from requiring individuals to wear them." Texas Tribune
"Texas official: Army suspects foul play in disappearance," via AP-- "U.S. Army investigators are suspecting foul play in the disappearance of a Texas soldier who has been missing for two months, a congresswoman confirmed Tuesday.
Pfc. Vanessa Guillen’s disappearance is being treated as a criminal investigation after she went missing April 22, U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Tuesday at a news conference with the solider’s family.
“We don’t want just attention. We want action. We want answers,” Garcia said Tuesday. “We’ve got to remember that this is a family that is hurting.”
Garcia, a Democrat representing Texas’s 29th congressional district, and Guillen’s family met with Army leaders to discuss the investigation into the disappearance of the 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier.
During the meeting, family members told Army officials that Guillen told them she’d been sexually harassed by her superiors. But Guillen didn’t report the harassment because she was afraid of retaliation, said Natalie Khawam, the family’s attorney.
Khawam said she wants Congress to conduct an investigation into how the case is being handled because Army investigators haven’t been disclosing details. The only information Army leaders provided is Guilan’s last known contact on April at 11:30 a.m., Garcia said.
“There’s something extremely troubling about this case. A military base is probably one of the most secure places you can be. You have ID check-ins. There are security cameras everywhere,” Khawam told KHOU-TV on Monday.
Guillen was last seen at a Fort Hood parking lot wearing a black T-shirt and purple workout pants.
A tip led a search team, including Texas EquuSearch, to the Leon River on Monday, but they didn’t discover anything. Meanwhile, Guillen’s car, keys and wallet were all left behind in the armory room where she was working earlier in the day on April 22, and her phone is missing.
“I demand justice and I demand their respect and that they respect my daughter as a soldier,” Guillen’s mother, Gloria Guillen, said in Spanish Tuesday. “She enlisted for her country and to protect us. And now that she needs us, we need to support her and find her.”
On Twitter, Fort Hood officials are asking for anyone with information to come forward.
A $50,000 reward is being offered for any information that leads to the soldier’s whereabouts. The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and the League of United Latin American Citizens is each contributing $25,000 to fund the reward." AP
"North Texan charged with defrauding COVID-19 relief fund," via AP-- "A North Texas man was arrested Tuesday after a federal indictment accused him of applying fraudulently for $3 million from the federal coronavirus relief fund.
Federal prosecutors say Fahad Shah, 44, of Murphy, was arrested on three counts of wire fraud, one count of making false statements to a bank and four counts of money laundering.
A federal indictment accuses the suburban Dallas man of fraudulently applying for $3 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans. The indictment says he got more than $1.5 million that he used to buy a Tesla and make personal investments and home mortgage payments.
It was not immediately clear if Shah was kept in custody or released. A telephone number listed to him has been disconnected and he could not be reached for comment." AP
"Police: Stabbings apparently random in Central Texas city," via AP-- "A man stabbed four people apparently at random, running frenetically from one attack to the next, before he was gunned down by a police officer in a Central Texas city, the police chief said Tuesday.
All four victims in the Monday morning stabbings are expected to survive, Giddings police Chief Haril Walpole said in a statement.
The first victim was a 39-year-old woman who was stabbed outside her place of work in Giddings, Walpole said. The attacker then ran along Highway 77 to a Texaco gas station where he stabbed and wounded the 62-year-old clerk behind the store counter. After that, the attacker ran toward a parked pickup truck, flung open the door and stabbed a 49-year-old man who was sitting inside, Walpole said. That victim was able to get out of the truck and a bystander intervened, prompting the attacker to flee, he said.
The attacker ran into his fourth victim nearby, stabbing the 55-year-old man several times.
“All of the victims appear to be random,” Walpole said.
Walpole said officers responding to several 911 calls eventually encountered the man and told him repeatedly to drop the knife, but instead he approached a retreating officer who stumbled backwards onto the ground. As the attacker came closer still, the officer opened fire, shooting him three times, Walpole said.
Justice of the Peace Michael York pronounced the 43-year-old attacker dead at the scene.
Walpole did not provide the names of the attacker, his victims or the officers involved.
The officer who shot and killed the attacker has been with the Giddings Police Department for two years and holds the rank of sergeant. He has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Texas Rangers." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"TEA draft leaves most rules for fighting coronavirus in schools to local leaders,"The Houston Chronicle's Shelby Webb -- "Texas leaders expect public schools to re-open for in-person classes in August, but appear willing to leave many of the health and safety decisions for combating the ongoing coronavirus outbreak to local education officials, including whether to require students and faculty to wear face masks.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath was expected to release formal safety guidelines Tuesday regarding the opening of public schools in the upcoming 2020-21 academic year, but backed off in the face of rising COVID-19 cases across the state.
A draft of the state guidelines, however, briefly was posted to the TEA’s website.
In it, TEA officials recommend — but do not require — that local school leaders implement several health and safety protocols to fight the spread of the coronavirus. They include placing desks at least six feet apart, requiring students and staff to wear face masks, taking the temperature of teachers and other staff members at the start of each day and setting aside times for hand washing, among others.
The guidance does outline several mandates: people with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 must remain home while sick and meet three conditions before returning to school; school leaders must notify local health officials and school community members of individuals who were on-campus and tested positive; educators must provide instruction on hygiene practices on the first day of school.
“While it is not possible to eliminate all risk of furthering the spread of COVID-19, the current science suggests there are many steps schools can take to reduce the risk to students, teachers, staff and their families significantly,” the draft states.
In a conference call Tuesday afternoon, when he laid out plans for how schools will receive funding, Morath said the preliminary health guidelines “are still draft, working documents.”
“It’s a rapidly changing public health situation, so we are unable to give final guidance (Tuesday) on on-campus instruction,” Morath said.
The agency did confirm that school funding will be based on student attendance, which will include students on campus as well as those who choose to stick with the kind of online instruction and distance learning that districts provided after Gov. Greg Abbott shut down all public schools in March.
Local school leaders across Texas are awaiting directives from the state as they craft extensive plans for the upcoming school year. They are deciding how to structure school days, implement safety protocols, assign staff responsibilities and provide instruction to students who fell behind in recent months.
Many school leaders are planning to reopen campuses in August, but with a limited number of students and staff in attendance each day. In those cases, the remaining students would continue online classes from home. Several Houston-area superintendents have said they also are creating contingency plans in case they are forced to shut down campuses again." Houston Chronicle
TEXANS IN DC
"Cornyn moves to reduce taxes, royalties on oil sector,"The Houston Chronicle's James Osbourne -- "Texas Senator John Cornyn filed legislation Tuesday that would allow oil companies to temporarily reduce their federal taxes and royalty payments during the coronavirus pandemic.
At a time when oil companies are struggling under a volatile energy market, Cornyn is proposing to expand the degree to which companies can deduct drilling costs and other expenses from their tax bill this year, while also reducing the amount of the federal fuel tax companies must deposit every two weeks from 95 percent of the tax to 25 percent. Companies recoup the money from consumers who pay the tax at the pump.
"There’s no doubt many in the energy industry have been hanging by a thread,” Cornyn, a Republican, said in a statement. “These reforms will allow Texas’ job creators to weather this downturn, continue paying their workers, and invest in their infrastructure for years to come.”
Also, rules for reducing royalty rates and granting extensions on federal leases would be streamlined for the duration of the pandemic. And the tax benefit for carbon capture projects would be extended by one year." Houston Chronicle
Chip Roy guest column: "It’s Time For Republicans To Stand Up For America Already," via The Federalist -- "The United States of America is starting to resemble a Target in Minneapolis, overrun by lawless mobs and left for dead by the very leaders charged with upholding the rule of law.
Today, we are witnessing the wealthiest, freest, and greatest country in the history of the world, which took more than 240 years to build, being burned to the ground at the hands of radical leftists motivated primarily by anarchy and a Marxist agenda, not racial justice.
Compared to previous generations and their peers who sign up to defend America, these folks have contributed precious little to society. Yet, somehow, they have found a way to bend America to their will. How? Because most of our nation’s political class won’t stand up and lead.
Yes, those civilians choosing to loot businesses, paint “Kill Cops” on billboards, destroy property, and promote violence are being propped up by the very politicians—Democrat or Republican, take your pick—you’ve elected. But it goes deeper than that.
The very people you have sent to Washington, D.C. to make laws, uphold them, conduct oversight, and ensure America remains a safe and prosperous nation have cowered to the mob." The Federalist
"Doggett backs bill to prevent price gouging for COVID-19 drugs,"The San Antonio Express-News' Laura Garcia -- "U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett has signed on to legislation taking on the drug industry — two bills aimed at preventing price gouging for coronavirus drugs, many of which benefited from taxpayer-funded research and development.
The Taxpayer Research and Coronavirus Knowledge Act would require establishing a single database of federal biomedical investment information related to COVID-19 treatments.
The second bill titled, Make Medications Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Price-gouging Act, proposes new protections that would prohibit companies from exclusive licensing of drugs used to treat or prevent COVID-19.
The bill would require the federal government to mandate the “reasonable, affordable” pricing of drugs that have received publicly-funded research and development grants.
Drug makers also would need to disclose a detailed accounting of its expenditures for the COVID-19 drug, said Democrat Lloyd Doggett, who serves as chairman of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee and represents a district that includes San Antonio and Austin." San Antonio Express-News
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
"Lawmakers protest as feds pull support from 4 Harris County COVID testing sites,"The Houston Chronicle's Benjamin Wermund -- "The Trump administration is planning to end federal support for local coronavirus testing sites across the nation at the end of the month — including seven in Texas, where confirmed cases of COVID are spiking.
Texas officials are urging the White House to rethink the move, warning of “catastrophic cascading consequences” of pulling federal support for testing sites, four of which are in Houston and Harris County and administer thousands of tests per day. City officials consider two of those sites — the largest in the city, administering up to 500 tests each per day — the backbone of Houston’s testing efforts.
Texas has seen a 146-percent increase in lab-confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations since Memorial Day and Houston could soon be the country’s worst-hit city, health officials have warned.
“Now is the time to be ramping up our testing capabilities, not slowing it down,” said U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat who led a letter to the heads of FEMA and Health and Human Services on Tuesday. Houston Democratic U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, Al Green and Lizzie Fletcher also signed the letter.
The Trump administration has long planned to end federal support for the sites and transition them to state and local control. It has pushed back the plan at least once, in April, when it extended support for the sites until the end of June at the urging of local lawmakers including Houston Democrats and the state’s Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
A spokesperson for Cruz said he “has urged and will continue to urge HHS and FEMA to extend the community testing sites in Texas.”
“As Sen. Cruz has said, testing is crucial to protecting the public health and helping our economy get back on its feet,” the spokesperson said. “Thankfully, Texas has seen a significant improvement in testing since February - but we know more work must be done.”
Officials are asking the administration to to push the deadline back to the end of August, saying ending federal support for the sites now could hinder attempts to build up contact tracing networks and other efforts to control the outbreak.
“Losing the support of the federal government for testing sites will undoubtedly have catastrophic cascading consequences in the region’s ability to adequately test, quarantine and isolate, ultimately blunting the progression of COVID-19,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and David Persse, the health authority of the city of Houston, wrote in a separate letter to Rear Adm. Erica Schwartz, Deputy Surgeon General.
Houston has 27 testing sites, with most administering between 100 and 250 tests per day.
The federally supported sites — at Butler and Delmar Stadiums — are by far the city’s largest. The two Harris County sites — at the Pasadena San Jacinto College campus and Pridgeon Stadium — administer around 750 tests each per day. All four federally support sites have been reaching capacity by 1 p.m., officials said.
The federal government also provides support for two sites in Dallas and one in El Paso.
“As we continue to see significant increases in the rate of infection in Houston and Harris County, we cannot afford for FEMA to withdraw fiscal, personnel, and administrative support of COVID-19 testing sites,” Garcia said. “Doing so will only jeopardize our ability to monitor the spread of the virus and will set us back in our ability to take care of everyone in our community.”" Houston Chronicle
REMAINDERS
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