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Child care centers, bars and sporting events scheduled for Texas' next phase of reopening

Chid care opens immediately, bars can open Friday and sports will be allowed to return at the end of the month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday.

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced his next wave of reopenings designed to restart the Texas economy during the coronavirus pandemic, saying child care facilities can reopen immediately, bars can open Friday with limited capacity and sporting events can return without fans at the end of the month.

Abbott also said he would permit restaurants to operate at 50% capacity starting Friday, up from 25% that’s allowed now.

At the same time, Abbott exempted two hotspots — Amarillo and El Paso — from his latest decisions, saying they would need to wait a week.

Abbott’s news conference came 18 days after he started a phased reopening of the state, starting with letting restaurants, stores, movie theaters and malls open up at 25% capacity. He then allowed barbershops and salons to reopen May 8 under certain restrictions. Monday was the first day gyms were allowed to open up, also under restrictions.

Abbott’s news conference Monday came a day after the total coronavirus cases in Texas increased to at least 47,784, including 1,336 deaths, according to the latest data from the state Department of Health Services. Out of Texas’ 254 counties, 222 are reporting cases.

The number of cases — and deaths — keeps rising in Texas, though the testing tally has also gone up, reaching 693,276 as of Sunday. Abbott, meanwhile, continues to highlight the relatively stable number of hospitalizations and declining infection rate.

While testing has ramped up, it is still failing to regularly reach Abbott’s own goal of 30,000 tests a day. Over the last week, the state averaged 25,614 tests per day.

However, in recent days, it was revealed that the state is including an unknown quantity of antibody tests in its testing total, casting uncertainty over the reliability of that data for the time being.

Amarillo has been a hotspot due to outbreaks at its meatpacking plants, and earlier this month, the state dispatched one of its Surge Response Teams to the city to try to get things under control. Of the 1,801 new cases that Texas reported Saturday, over 700 were linked to the Amarillo meatpacking plants, according to Abbott’s office.

In El Paso, the situation has deteriorated enough that the county judge, Ricardo Samaniego, and other local officials asked Abbott last week to exempt the county from the reopening process.

Abbott let the state's stay home order expire on April 30 as his administration rolled back some restrictions previously put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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On May 1, restaurants, churches, retails stores, malls and movie theaters were allowed to reopen with 25% capacity. A week later, hair salons and barbershops were allowed to reopen with strict restrictions in place. 

The last part of Phase I included allowing gyms, nonessential offices and manufacturing facilities reopen on May 18. Those facilities will also be required to maintain 25% capacity. 

Gyms must also keep locker rooms and showers closed, and staff must thoroughly clean equipment after use. Social distancing guidelines must also be enforced. 

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Since Texas began reopening on May 1, cases of COVID-19 continue to rise. Gov. Abbott says cases are higher because more testing is being completed. 

The state also marked the highest two-day of deaths since reopening on May 14 and May 15 with 58 and 56 fatalities. 

Testing has increased from 352,000 tests on May 1 to 693,000 tests on May 17. There has been an increase in testing everyday since the state began phase I of reopening. 

Gov. Abbott said when he announce reopening plans that the numbers his administration would be paying attention to when moving forward to phase II would be the number of hospitalizations. 

The state average 14 days before reopening on May 1 was 1,618. Since reopening that number has climbed slightly to 1,689. 

Texas also reported the largest single-day increase in confirmed cases in the state since the pandemic began on May 16. The Texas Department of Health reported 1,801 additional positive cases. 

There were more than 700 cases reported in the Amarillo area where meatpacking plants have been targeted for increased testing. 

"As Texas continues ramping up its testing capabilities, there will be an increase in positive cases as the state targets the most high-risk areas: nursing homes, meat packing plants and jails," Governor Abbott said in a May 4 news release.  

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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/05/18/texas-reopening-coronavirus-updates-greg-abbott-press-conference/

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