After Dallas’ ‘stay home’ order, Tarrant County resists calls to shelter in place
Tarrant County officials and dozens of residents argued Sunday at a commissioners meeting whether the county should impose a shelter-in-place order.
At the same time that Tarrant County commissioners were holding an emergency meeting on Judge Glen Whitley’s declaration to close non-essential businesses on Saturday, Dallas County announced it would impose a shelter-in-place order.
Commissioner Roy Brooks, who was joining the meeting by phone, said Tarrant County should follow suit.
“I hate that we’re always following Dallas County, but it’s the right thing for us to do in Tarrant County at this time,” Brooks, a Democrat, said.
Commissioner Devan Allen said she agreed.
“We know how connected we are as a Metroplex,” said Allen, also a Democrat. “I am not concerned with which county does what first. I hope we come to a conclusion very quickly what the next step is.”
But Whitley disagreed, saying the restrictions put in place Saturday are enough to protect people and those stiff restrictions are already hurting local businesses.
“We think we need to give that a little bit of time to see how to proceed,” Whitley said after Sunday night’s meeting.
Dozens of people called in to the commissioners meeting. Some talked directly to Whitley, and the court, on speakerphone. Others left their messages with office staff, who gave the notes to Whitley to read aloud.
“This virus has an incubation period of 14 days, which means you could have the entire population of Tarrant County walking down the street and be unaware that they’re at risk of catching this virus,” said one caller, who was in favor of shelter in place.
Others opposed the shelter-in-place. One person wrote in and said she did not think a shelter in place was necessary because Tarrant County has had 40 cases.
“We’ve sat down with mayors, cities and hospital officials, and everyone is saying right now, we’re not ready to pull that trigger,” Whitley said.
The mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington signed onto letter Saturday urging Abbott to consider a statewide mandatory shelter-in-place order. The heads of local hospital systems, including JPS Health Network, Texas Health Resources, Cook Children’s Health Care System, also signed.
“In addition, we believe a statewide approach to limiting non-essential business or commerce — rather than allowing a patchwork of regulations in neighboring cities and counties — is imperative to slowing the spread of COVID-19, which does not stop at county lines or city limits,” the letter read.
After Sunday’s meeting, Whitley said the county would be re-evaluating the situation every day.
What is shelter-in-place?
Dallas’ “Stay Home Stay Safe” order, which will go into effect at 11:59 p.m. on March 23 and last until April 3, instructs residents to avoid all nonessential outings and stay inside as much as possible.
Buying groceries, picking up medicine and going for a walk are allowed under Dallas County’s order. Public or private gatherings outside of a person’s house are not permitted unless they are 6 feet away from one another.
With Tarrant County’s current orders, people can go to businesses for nonessential activities and meet publicly as long as they are 6 feet apart.
“We’re letting businesses continue that do not have — that the public has easy access or unfettered access into their business,” Whitley said. “And those are the kind of things we’re watching and we want to do.”
Gov. Greg Abbott did not issue a statewide order Sunday, saying officials should first see what effect the recently introduced restrictions will have.
“What may be right for places like the large urban areas, may not be right at this particular point in time for the more than 200 counties that have zero cases of COVID-19,” Abbott said
As of Sunday afternoon, there were at least 334 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Texas; 47 cases were reported in Tarrant County and 131 were confirmed in Dallas County.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 10:23 AM.
