We’re keeping track of the most up-to-date news about the coronavirus in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. Check back for updates.

Fort Worth-area tattoo business opens despite governor’s coronavirus executive order

Tattoo shop owner Ashley Craig couldn’t keep the doors shut on her business any longer.

Saying she couldn’t let her business fail after 13 years, Craig and the staff of North Texas Tattoo Co. reopened Saturday afternoon after being closed for weeks.

“We have been 100 percent closed down since March 17th as requested by the governor,” Craig said Saturday just hours before she opened. “We have applied for all the loans. Our PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) application has been denied twice. Still no word on help from the SBA on that loan. We have run out of our savings and can no longer rely on the government for help.”

So North Texas Tattoo Co. reopened by appointment only on West Bedford-Euless Road despite an existing executive order by the governor to shelter in place because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the most recent order from Gov. Greg Abbott, some businesses such as hair salons, barber shops and nail salons were allowed to reopen Friday with social distancing guidelines. Restaurants and retail stores were among those that reopened with limited capacity last week.

The governor noted businesses like gyms and exercise facilities could reopen May 18. But no date has been set for reopening businesses such as tattoo shops, piercing studios and massage parlors.

North Texas residents return to reopened hair salons, accept new protective measures

Eileen O’Reilly, 61, sat outside of her hair salon on Saturday morning with a cloth mask over her mouth and strips of aluminum foil in her hair, reading a paperback book.

It was going to take at least 45 minutes for the brownish-red coloring and highlights to set in, she said. Luckily, there were no crowds at Panther City Salon on Saturday morning to interrupt her.

O’Reilly, who moved from Los Angeles to Fort Worth at the end of December, had yet to find a new hair stylist when officials shuttered non-essential businesses in March. Since she typically likes to get a hair cut every four weeks, she said she made an appointment at Panther City Salon on West Magnolia Avenue as soon as Gov. Greg Abbott announced hair and tanning salons could re-open on Friday at limited capacity.

She arrived a little before 10 a.m. on Saturday and texted her hair stylist to let her in. There were only two stylists working in the mostly empty space, she said. She was instructed to rub in some hand sanitizer and keep her face mask on.

Even with these new circumstances, she said, it was nice to return to a little bit of normalcy and focus on feeling attractive.

“For me, getting my hair done — it makes my day. It’s going to make my weekend,” O’Reilly said. “I know I’m going to look so much better and look back to normal, and I’m thrilled.”

She is one of countless North Texas residents who showed up to Fort Worth hair salons on Saturday for their first appointments in months as businesses introduced new policies aimed at decreasing contact and crowds.

Tarrant County reports 83 more coronavirus cases, 6 deaths

Tarrant County officials reported on Saturday that another 83 residents have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and six more residents have died from it.

There have now been more than 100 COVID-19 deaths in Tarrant County, with a total of 101, according to data from Tarrant County Public Health. There have been a total of 3,210 cases and 779 recoveries.

The six people whose deaths were reported on Saturday include five Fort Worth residents, officials said in a news release — a man in his 70s, amwoman in her 70s, a man in his 80s and two women in their 80s. An Arlington man in his 60s also died.

They all had underlying conditions.

There were 237 confirmed COVID-19-occupied beds in Fort Worth hospitals as of Saturday, the data shows. There were also 2,211 available beds and 444 available ventilators.

Dallas County closes worst week of pandemic: 33 deaths, 1,720 new cases

Dallas County closed out its worst week of the coronavirus pandemic with 250 new cases and eight more deaths reported Saturday.

The county reported a week-high 1,720 COVID-19 cases (an average of 246 daily) and 33 deaths, which ties for the most in a week during the pandemic. The county reported 990 cases and 29 deaths the previous week.

The county reported more than 200 new cases for the seventh consecutive day and has confirmed a total of 5,619 cases and 143 deaths. Dallas County is not reporting recovered patient totals.

“Residents should continue to avoid crowds, practice six foot distancing, wear a cloth covering at businesses and on public transportation and practice good hygiene,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a release.

The eight latest deaths include a Garland man in his 30s who was found dead at his home and three residents of long-term care facilities in Dallas and Richardson. The ages includes the man in his 30s, two men in their 50s, a man in his 60s, a woman in her 70s, and two men and one woman in their 80s. The deceased live in Dallas, Farmers Branch, Garland, Cockrell Hill, Balch Springs and Richardson.

Bud Kennedy: Activists staged Shelley Luther’s stunt against Greg Abbott, to the tune of $500,000

Let me explain what happened in Texas last week.

First of all, it was really Gov. Greg Abbott who got the trim.

The Republican Party’s Tea Party-liberty faction set him up. They’ve been agitated for a year, after the last Legislature didn’t give them looser gun laws or anything else they wanted.

For six weeks, they’d been trolling on social media for somebody to raise the money for a challenge to Abbott’s emergency coronavirus health orders. They also wanted to wake up listless grassroots Republicans in an election year.

They found Shelley Luther, 46, a Denton County nightclub singer. Then she put on a show of calling TV stations saying she just had to open her Dallas beauty salon right now, because she needed to feed her family, a teenage daughter.

Now, Luther won’t ever have to sing “I Will Survive” again.

An activist website that also promotes the QAnon alternate-reality conspiracy fantasy has raised more than $500,000 for her legal fees though a GoFundMe.com page. According to Texas Monthly, it was already set up to fundraise April 23, the day before Luther reopened her salon.

So I think she’ll definitely be able to afford the bills from her attorneys, state Republican Party committeeman Warren Norred of Arlington and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park.

Michael Bublé concert is coming to Fort Worth, but he’s going to be a little late

If you have already purchased tickets for the Micheal Bublé concert scheduled for April, stick them in a red envelope and put them in a safe place.

Now you can use them as a day after Valentine’s Day present.

The Bublé concert previously scheduled for April 4 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth has been rescheduled for Feb. 15, 2021, due to the appearance of the novel coronavirus.

If you’ve already bought tickets to see Bublé, those will be honored for the rescheduled date, according to a Dickies Arena news release.