Fort Worth orders more closures, reduces crowd sizes to 50 in response to coronavirus
Fort Worth and Tarrant County officials on Wednesday escalated their efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, falling closer in line with federal guidelines established days ago.
Mayor Betsy Price, Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams and Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley announced that all bars, lounges, taverns, private clubs, theaters, gyms, and other amusement businesses must close. Gatherings are capped at 50 people and restaurants, craft breweries, distilleries and wineries must switch to takeout or delivery.
Total building capacity limits remain at half of the regular capacity or no more than 125 people for event centers, hotel ballrooms and meeting rooms, retail establishments, convenience stores, plazas, churches, mall common areas and individual businesses in malls. These restrictions do not apply to grocery stores, government buildings, offices, medical facilities, day cares, homeless or emergency shelters, airports or manufacturing facilities.
“These are mandatory. They are not recommendations,” Price said. “Nothing we have done has been done lightly.”
The restrictions go into effect at midnight. The change in policy also extends Tarrant County’s declaration of local disaster for 90 days. A similar declaration in Fort Worth will be extended seven days, though the City Council is expected to extend that date Thursday during an emergency meeting.
Price said restaurant owners had been informed earlier in the week that they would be told to close so owners could prep employees and cut down on inventory.
Wednesday’s announcement marked an increase in local restrictions in response the new coronavirus, which causes a flu-like illness particularly dangerous to older people and those with weakened immune systems. As of Wednesday afternoon there were more than 80 known cases of coronavirus in Texas. At least three Texans, including one in Tarrant County and one in Collin County, have died from COVID-19. Nationwide there were more than 7,000 cases and nearly 100 deaths.
On Tuesday, first case of local transmission in Tarrant County was announced: a health care worker who lives in Grand Prairie, health department officials said. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced at a media briefing in Arlington that everyone at the Texas Masonic Retirement Center, where the first Tarrant County resident died from COVID-19, will be tested for the coronavirus.
Last week he issued a statewide disaster declaration, which authorizes a variety of responses and reallocates state resources. On Tuesday, he activated the Texas National Guard, getting troops ready but not yet deploying them across the state.
A day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended gatherings under 50, Fort Worth on Monday decreased its crowd limit to 125. President Donald Trump meanwhile urged bars and restaurants to close and for people not to gather in groups larger than 10. But Fort Worth, Tarrant County and state officials held off on closing businesses.
Tarrant County’s response has also been sporadic with Whitley deferring to the county’s 41 mayors for guidance rather than establishing countywide polices. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, meanwhile, on Monday limited groups to 50 and closed bars, restaurants and similar venues.
The county, operating on the legal opinion of District Attorney Sharen Wilson, did not have wide-ranging power to force the closure of businesses in response to the coronavirus, Whitley told the Star-Telegram on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, after meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott and his staff, Whitley said he now believed the county’s disaster declaration gave the county “real teeth.”
“We feel very comfortable that we’ll be able to enforce, to the extent that we deem necessary,” he said.
In Fort Worth, Price and city leadership have been meeting regularly with Dr. Michael Williams, president of the UNT Health Science Center a Fort Worth. Williams has offered guidance about best health practices, including pushing for the stricter limits on crowd sizes.
Williams stressed that people should take the new coronavirus seriously and said he was advocating for groups not to exceed 10.
“I think the worst thing that can go on is if we spend too much time trying to maintain life as it has been instead of taking some fairly serious actions to prepare for what the new day is going to look like,” he said.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 2:47 PM.
