Cases of the coronavirus are on the rise in Texas, which has Gov. Greg Abbott worried.
“To state the obvious, COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas, and it must be corralled,” the governor said in a press conference Monday.
The state has experienced more than 25,000 new coronavirus cases in the last week. On Friday, the state racked up just over 4,600 new cases in one day, making it the worst day for new cases in the state since the start of the pandemic.
The governor has not announced that new restrictions will be taken in the state but encouraged residents to not relax on precautionary measures such as hand washing, mask-wearing, and social distancing.
“Wearing a mask will help us to keep Texas open. Not taking action to slow the spread will cause COVID to spread even worse, risking people’s lives, and ultimately, leading to the closure of more businesses,” he said.
He added that “additional measures” may be needed if the number of cases continues to grow.
“The way hospitalizations are spiking, the way that daily new cases are spiking — surely the public can understand that if those spikes continue, additional measures are going to be necessary to make sure we maintain the health and safety of the people of the state of Texas,” he warned.
“If we were to experience another doubling of those numbers over the next month, that would mean we’re in an urgent situation where tougher actions will be required to make sure that we do contain the spread of COVID-19,” he continued.
