Texans took advantage of less restrictions and the great weather over the weekend. But while they were doing that, one politician was doing more regulating.
You could eat at a restaurants again, churches had good crowds, and thousands went to the beach in Galveston. But Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo did two things that raised eyebrows.
She signed an order keeping non-essential businesses closed until May 20th, and she launched a website where you can report businesses not following 25% capacity rules. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner isn't going to enforce it.
"We don't have the resources to be going into every business to make sure that they are following the 25% occupancy requirement," Turner explained.
Turner also warned that Houstonians should not start acting as if everything is back to normal; the virus is still here.
“Don’t act as if the virus is gone,” Turner said. “The best thing we can do as we move forward, let’s say, as we open is to be cautious in our actions, to recognize that the virus has not left our city and until there’s a vaccine what we are asked to do now is to manage the virus as much as possible. And what we mean by ‘manage it’ is that you still have to engage in social distancing. It’s still very important for people to put on their masks.”
Elsewhere:
- The Greater Houston area reported seven deaths yesterday to bring the total to 260.
- The state reported 13 to bring the total in Texas to 878. Governor Gregg Abbott Tweeted that the number of Texans who have recovered from COVID-19 now exceeds the number of active COVID cases for the past 2 days.
- A federal coronavirus strike force is in Amarillo in response to outbreaks in meatpacking plants.
- Beginning today, Costco is requiring all customers to wear masks in their stores.
- Galveston wants more of to take advantage of takeout, so they have a new list of more than 25 restaurants offering discounts. We have the list HERE.
- And in Austin, a A Texas park ranger that warned a group about coronavirus social distancing pushed into a lake. Brandon Hicks was arrested and charged with attempted assault on a public servant.