Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is moving ahead with plans to reopen his state in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The governor said on Thursday that 19 of the state’s 22 hospital regions will be allowed to permit businesses that have been open to 50% capacity to increase their capacity to 75%. Those reopenings will happen as soon as Monday.
Abbott said these businesses will include “all retail stores, all restaurants, all office buildings, all manufacturing, all museums and libraries and all gyms.”
The 19 regions selected are places where coronavirus hospitalizations make up less than 15% of all of their hospitalizations.
Other steps to relax coronavirus restrictions include allowing hospitals in those regions to offer normal elective procedures and letting nursing homes reopen for visitations under certain guidelines.
Daily new cases in Texas are up 14% this week over where they were last week, according to CNBC analysis of data from John Hopkins University.
“COVID does still exist, and most Texans remain susceptible,” the governor said at a press conference. “If we fully reopen Texas without limits, without safe practices, it can lead to an unsustainable increase in COVID that would require the possibility of being forced to ratchet back down.”
