White House document puts DFW and Texas in COVID ‘red zone,’ urges stricter measures
A document prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force shows both Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area are in the “red zone” and recommends additional restrictions to curb the surge in coronavirus cases, according to a Center for Public Integrity report.
States, counties and metro areas fall into the “red zone” if during the last week they reported new cases above 100 per 100,000 residents or a positivity rate of over 10%, according to the previously unpublicized July 14 document, obtained and first reported on by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit newsroom based in Washington, D.C.
The document lists Texas, and 18 other states across the South, Midwest and West coast as falling into the “red zone” for at least one of the categories. Texas meets both criteria, as do 123 counties, including Tarrant, Dallas, Harris Bexar, Travis and El Paso.
“Texas had 206 new cases per 100,000 population in the past week, compared to a national average of 119 per 100,000,” read the document, which looked at county case data through July 10.
The document featured a list of recommendations, including some measures Gov. Greg Abbott has yet to take, like reducing indoor dining capacity to 25%. The document also recommended officials in red zones close gyms, and that residents stick to take-out or eat outdoors at a distance and reduce public interactions to 25% compared to normal. Abbott reduced restaurant capacity to 50% nearly three weeks ago, in addition to shutting down bars and closing rafting and tubing businesses.
The Center for Public Integrity noted that Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, appeared to reference an earlier version of the same report during a July 8 press conference, which she said is sent weekly to governors.
A spokesperson for Gov. Greg Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday on whether Abbott has received the report, and if he plans to order stricter measures based on its recommendations.
Abbott already has taken some of the steps the document outlines, like closing bars and mandating masks in all counties where the positivity rate — the number of positive cases out of the total tested — is rising and limiting social gatherings to 10 people or less. However, Abbott’s executive orders allow local officials to approve larger gatherings and for counties with less than 20 active cases to opt out of the mask mandate.
On Wednesday, Texas once again broke records, with single-day highs of 10,791 new coronavirus cases and 110 deaths. Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients dropped slightly from Tuesday’s record.
One of Abbott’s medical advisers told the Houston Chronicle that the surge in Texas warranted a regional approach to reinstating stay-at-home measures. Abbott has repeatedly said that shutting the state back down is not the goal, although he has warned that if Texans don’t comply with the measures in place it may be needed.
“If we were to shut down for two weeks as some people are asking, once we open back up, you would then begin to see things spread again,” Abbott told KTRK-TV in Houston on Tuesday.
When asked if he would put in regional stay-at-home restrictions, Abbott said during a press conference Thursday that if everybody abides by his statewide mask mandate, the state can get the virus’ spread under control.
“There is no need for a lockdown if everyone will adopt this best practice,” Abbott said.
The document also recommends a significant ramp up in testing and contract tracing, two containment strategies that public health experts say are essential to limit the virus’ spread. Tarrant County, and the state, have struggled with both measures.
The document recommends that Texas officials recruit more contact tracers, ensure that all cases are contacted, and that positive households be tested within 24 hours. At the end of June, Texas had yet to meet its goal of 4,000 contact tracers, according to the Texas Tribune. And Tarrant County has only about 100 tracers who are struggling to reach the contacts of positive cases because of the recent surge.
This week, Tarrant County Commissioners denied Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja’s request for funds to hire up to 270 temporary staff to help with contact tracing and case investigations. Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said he needed more details on specifics.
The document prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force also recommends that turnaround times for testing be decreased to under 12 hours. Dallas-Fort Worth residents have recounted being unable to secure an appointment through the county’s public health test sites that are “completely booked out” and are still waiting over 10 days to receive test results back from private labs.
When asked about delays in testing Thursday, Abbott attributed slow turnaround times to private labs, like Quest Diagnostics. Private labs have said that the recent demand for tests has constrained their capabilities and led to slower results.
“State-based labs and other local-based labs have a 24 to 48 hour turnaround. Part of what Quest Diagnostics has been testing has been doing nursing home testing,” Abbott said, stressing that testing is being pushed to local labs. “Bottom line is, that the turnaround lags that have occurred in some parts of the state of Texas should be a thing of the past sometime soon.”
Additional recommendations from the document include continuing weekly testing of workers in assisted living and long-term care facilities. Abbott announced last week that Omnicare, a CVS Health company, will be providing same-day testing for nursing home and assisted living facility staff and residents across Texas. Abbott had previously directed all nursing home staff and residents to be tested in June.
Officials in many of Texas’ largest metro areas have called on Abbott to order stricter measures and reinstate their ability to issue local stay-at-home orders.
Since enacting what was essentially a statewide stay-at-home order in late March, Abbott’s subsequent executive orders have superseded local ones, and he has resisted local officials’ recent calls, saying that they have “absolutely refused” to enforce the restrictions in place.
Abbott has recently announced additional federal resources to be surged to areas like Houston and the Rio Grande Valley, where hospitals are nearing capacity. Abbott has also suspended elective medical procedures in more than 100 Texas counties across the state. Tarrant County has not yet been added to that list.
COVID-19 cases over time
Coronavirus daily case counts over time by local counties in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex. Tap the arrow button to replay the animation. Data provided by Texas Health and Human Services and local counties.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 4:32 PM.
