Gov. Abbott says virus spreading at ‘unacceptable rate’ in Texas, urges face masks & social distance

AUSTIN, Texas -- Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday struck a newly urgent tone about rising coronavirus numbers in Texas but said "closing down Texas again will always be the last option."

"To state the obvious, Covid-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas and it must be corralled," Abbott said during a news conference at the Texas Capitol in Austin.

However, he stopped short of introducing any new policies or pulling back on the reopening of Texas businesses, instead emphasizing long-established voluntary guidelines encouraging people to stay home if they can, use hand sanitizer, keep six feet of distance with others and wear a face mask.

He also promised Texas has strategies to address the rising numbers "without having to return to stay-at-home policies."

Those strategies include stepping up enforcement of places like bars where large crowds have gathered, "surging testing in areas that may be hot spots" and working with hospitals to ensure they have capacity for coronavirus patients. He continued to describe hospital capacity as "abundant."

At the same time, Abbott held open the possibility that Texans could see new restrictions to get the virus under control. He said so while speaking in front of three poster boards showing the rapid rise of daily new cases, hospitalizations and the positivity rate, or the ratio of confirmed cases to tests.

"In each of these three categories, there’s been pretty much a doubling of the numbers in those three categories," Abbott said. "If we were to experience another doubling of those numbers over the next month, that would mean we are in an urgent situation where tougher actions will be required."

Texas has broken its record for number of people hospitalized with the virus for 11 consecutive days. On Monday, that number was 3,711. Saturday saw the highest number of new daily reported cases yet — 4,430.

The positivity rate, presented by the state as a seven-day average, has increased to 8.8%, on par with where it was in late April.

Discussing the guidelines to slow the spread of the virus, Abbott was particularly emphatic about masks.

"I know that some people feel that wearing a mask is inconvenient or is like an infringement of freedom, but I also know that wearing a mask will help us to keep Texas open," Abbott said.

At the same time, Abbott continued to resist the idea of a statewide mask mandate, saying there needs to be flexibility for different parts of the vast state. He has restricted local governments from mandating individuals wear masks but recently clarified that they can order business to requires customers to wear masks.

Democrats panned Abbott's news conference for not offering any new solutions.

"Today, Gov. Abbott did a good job describing the Covid-19 crisis: Texas is seeing skyrocketing cases, rising hospitalizations and a doubling of our positivity rate," state Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement. "He set the stage to finally take much-needed strong and decisive action — and then, predictably, backed away without doing anything."

Turner and other Democrats said Abbott continues to ignore their concerns that the state is reopening too quickly. "Instead, the governor decided to listen to his fringe right-wing base over the advice of medical experts," state Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement.