When could businesses open in Tarrant County? Here’s an idea, if coronavirus flattens out
Stay-at-home restrictions appear to be “bending the curve” of novel coronavirus cases in Tarrant County — and County Judge Glen Whitley said there’s a chance some restrictions could be loosened early next month.
“These actions our county have taken have really impacted the way this outbreak has emerged in Tarrant County,” Public Health Director Vinny Taneja told commissioners Tuesday during their weekly meeting. “There is clear evidence we are doing the right things.”
He noted that cases are doubling about every four days and new projections from Covid Act Now show the peak of coronavirus cases might not hit here until June.
“Keep staying at home,” Taneja said. “We’re doing the right things in Tarrant County and we need to keep the course.”
Whitley said he doesn’t believe restrictions will be loosened this month, but said there’s a possibility that they could in May.
He said he’s been talking about how “we are going to come out of this” with area county judges, hospital officials and the North Texas Council of Governments.
“We need to be consistent,” Whitley said. “We really need to listen to the health care providers, the physicians, epidemiologists, the same folks who told us what we needed to do in order to bend the curve and to potentially get ahead of this.
“And so as we begin to look at coming out of it, we need to let them see the data and begin to tell us when they feel like we can lessen those restrictions a little bit.”
As for a time frame, Whitley said he believes the first or second week of May might be possible “if we continue to see the numbers flatten out or hopefully come down.”
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said, unfortunately, there is no guide to show when communities can reopen businesses.
But she said there “are key factors that we are identifying as a guide to ease restrictions and re-open.” And she said an advisory panel — the Committee On Re-opening the Economy — will review criteria and help guide that decision.
“The overall health and safety of our community remains the top priority, and won’t be comprised, but we must also weigh the economic impact and be prepared to begin re-opening when it is safe and appropriate for all residents,” Price said.
As of Tuesday, 929 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported in Tarrant County. That includes 29 deaths and 103 recoveries, according to the health department.
Testing
This comes as Whitley said 6,290 tests have been run on residents in Tarrant County through April 8.
That compares with 12,585 tests in Harris County, 9,456 tests in Dallas County and 6,221 tests in Travis County through the same time period. During that time, Dallas County had two FEMA-run drive-through test sites that boosted those numbers, Whitley said.
Tarrant County and Fort Worth officials put in place stay-at-home orders and mandates on social distancing that are in effect until April 30.
County Commissioner Roy Brooks said officials need to do their part, listen to the medical experts “and follow their advice on how to navigate our way through this pandemic. We are not through to the other side yet.”
Whitley said test kits are beginning to free up a little more and the county could soon be able to increase the amount of coronavirus tests run locally.
More testing, he said, could “help us get a better understanding of exactly where we are.”
Reopening hopes
Taneja said when the time is right, and it’s too early to know when that is, there can be a very slow, methodical reopening of businesses.
Whitley said that could possibly begin with loosening restrictions on smaller businesses and hair salons.
Maybe some restaurants could reopen at half their capacity with employees wearing masks, he said. Maybe customers could have their temperatures taken at the door and anyone with coronavirus symptoms would be asked to not enter.
“What will really get us back to normal ... is a little farther out and that’s the availability of vaccines,” Taneja said.
County officials said Tuesday that they know people want to get out of their homes and back to work as soon as possible.
“I know last weekend was tough on everybody,” Whitley said. “But we made some progress. And the last thing in the world I want to do is … (have) people begin to think we can relax now and end up infecting people and causing us to go through another peak.”
“If this ends with a whimper, and that’s what we really want, it’s going to be said we overreacted” with restrictions, Commissioner Gary Fickes said. “If it ends with a boom or a bang, it’s going to be said we didn’t do enough soon enough.
“It’s kind of hard to win,” he said. “But let’s hope it ends with a whimper.”
