Will Texas Lead The American Resurgence From Coronavirus Lockdown? By John Daniel Davidson for The Federalist
As some states begin loosening coronavirus lockdowns, all eyes are on Texas to see if a phased reopening can be done safely.
In what could be the beginning of America’s resurgence from the coronavirus pandemic, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday he will let the state’s stay-at-home order expire at the end of the month and allow some businesses to reopen Friday, with restrictions. It marks the boldest loosening of pandemic restrictions since states began issuing lockdown orders last month, and could mark a path ahead for reopening the rest of the country.
Retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and malls across Texas will be allowed to open, but must operate at only 25 percent capacity. Same goes for museums and libraries. A second phase of reopening could come as soon as May 18, Abbott said, so long as Texas sees “two weeks of data to confirm no flare-up of COVID-19.” The governor’s order supersedes local orders by mayors and county commissioners, so if all goes well most businesses in Texas could be open by June.
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“The executive order has done its job,” he said. “Now it is time to start a new course.”
The announcement comes as governors nationwide are grappling with when and how to relax lockdown orders that have decimated the American economy and left tens of millions jobless. As the rate of hospitalization slows nationwide and hospital capacity holds steady, pressure is mounting on governors to reopen, as it should.
Abbott’s plan isn’t perfect by any means—at his press conference Monday there was no mention of schools or child care—but it represents a realistic approach to containing the pandemic while recognizing the need to get the economy going again. Remaining on lockdown for another 18 months or until there’s a vaccine, as Ezekiel Emmanuel suggested recently, or dragging out reopening for two years, as Virginia’s health commissioner suggested last week, or waiting until the fall when testing nationwide might—might—reach levels health experts would like to see aren’t serious options.
Simply put, Americans have to get back to work. A nation of 330 million people cannot subsist on debt-financed government handouts for very long, and now that evidence is emerging that the virus is not as deadly as we all feared it would be, it’s time for governors to get real. Our health-care system alone can’t handle these lockdowns for much longer. Hospitals all over the country are cutting pay, laying off staff, and imposing massive furloughs thanks to prohibitions on “non-essential” procedures. Even the world-renowned Mayo Clinic announced last week it was furloughing or cutting pay for some 30,000 employees.
