Covid on Record Destruction Binge
as Texas May Be Throwing Towel In

Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside
November 24, 2020

The coronavirus crushed it on Tuesday in Texas with 13,998 new infections for the fourth record spike in the past week in a state where officials appear to be all but giving up on attempts to control the disease.

The third and most severe surge has produced 76,320 new Texas cases in the past seven days when the average daily increase has been higher than the infections tally in July at the peak of the second outbreak.

Governor Greg Abbott appears adamant on a vow of no more lockdowns regardless of the dangers after allowing bars to reopen in early October as guaranteed fuel for the fall wave. The governor overhauled his measuring standards to make it easier for bars in major Texas counties that are still controlled by Republicans - switching from testing positivity to hospitalizations as the guiding metric for restrictions.

Abbott is banking on medical breakthroughs to protect the state like the bamlanivimab supply that he scored from the federal government and passed on to El Paso where hospitals are overwhelmed with a covid patient crush. But the newly-approved monoclonal antibody therapy is limited to people who are at severe risk of disease but have yet to be hospitalized with virus infections. The Republican governor announced a rapidly-assembled distributions network for COVID-19 vaccines that could be ready to start rolling out before the end of December.

Abbott is running the risk of creating a false sense of security with claims on the crisis being in the 9th inning when no one really knows when that will be.

Abbott has to decide whether the state will let the disease run wild without a concerted attempt to harness it with a return to the more aggressive initial approach that he'd taken with restrictions on non-essential businesses and other measures that backfired with a revolt within the GOP.

Abbott has substantial new cover with a pro-incumbent general election that caught both sides by complete surprise and took some of the pressure off the governor. But Abbott could be ready to give the Texas Legislature a vote on the direction of the pandemic in what could be its final months. The governor could use his emergency powers as bargaining power on legislative priorities in a 2021 regular session that will revolve on the health crisis.

The governor also has the rest of the nation to fall back on as the second wave devours America with the virus raging unchecked at red alert levels in every state. New Mexico is crawling with the coronavirus with Albuquerque, Santa Fe and five other cities there ranked among the nation's 11 hottest spots.

Abbott will be bracing for a major test by conservative Republicans who want to weaken the disaster declaration act that has given the governor carte blanche in the Texas response to the coronavirus. While Democrats want Abbott to give local leaders the ability to tailor their own responses, there's been few if any signs of interest among the Republicans on any added regulations.