The Texas Tribune reports:
During a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Gov. Greg Abbott expressed his sympathy for Texans who are now unemployed following his order closing bars, but stressed that those areas are one of the most “prolific spreading events.”
On Thursday, he said bars could potentially reopen once coronavirus metrics improve more significantly. He said he would need to see the state’s positivity rate drop below 10% for a sustained period of time and for hospital capacity to increase.
Currently, the Department of State Health Services is investigating the state’s increasing positivity rate — the percentage of tests taken yielding positive results — which climbed to an average of 25% for the week ending Aug. 11.
Abbott said he is sympathetic to bar owners and their cause, but defended his order saying the spread, positivity rate, and hospitalization rate were all slowed after his order closed the bars.https://t.co/H1xGKJvwXB
— KFXK FOX51 (@kfxkfox51) August 13, 2020
Abbott: Bars are places people don’t wear face masks and forget about safety protocols https://t.co/MpwhCB3tZM
— mySA (@mySA) August 12, 2020