Abbott suspends some medical procedures, says statewide shelter-in-place not yet needed
Gov. Greg Abbott issued two executive orders Sunday, directing health care providers to postpone surgeries and procedures that aren’t medically necessary and waiving regulations in an effort to increase hospital capacity. But despite growing calls from hospital heads and mayors, he said a statewide shelter-in-place order was not yet needed for Texas.
Physicians will have the discretion to suspend procedures that aren’t medically necessary to correct a serious medical condition or to preserve the lives of a patient, Abbott said. The executive order notes that the restrictions will not apply to procedures “that would not deplete the hospital capacity or the personal protective equipment needed to cope with the COVID-19 disaster.”
The second executive order suspends certain regulations to allow hospitals to treat more than one patient in a room, “thus increasing their ability to care for the growing potential number of COVID-19 patients,” Abbott said Sunday from the Texas Capitol.
The executive orders take effect immediately and will be in place through midnight April 21.
The additional executive orders follow Abbott’s sweeping executive order that went into effect midnight Friday that temporarily closes all Texas schools and gyms, prohibits dining-in at bars and restaurants, limits social gatherings to 10 people and restricts visits to nursing homes through April 3.
Over the weekend, a handful of governors ordered their residents to stay home to limit the virus’ spread. Meanwhile, Abbott was adamant when he announced the statewide restrictions last week that they were not a shelter-in-place order.
The mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington as well as the heads of local hospital systems, including JPS Health Network, Texas Health Resources, Cook Children’s Health Care System, signed onto a letter Saturday urging Abbott to consider a statewide mandatory shelter-in-place order.
The request was made based on the health care system’s ability to handle a surge of patients, and at the minimum, the group asked that Abbott strongly recommend stay at home orders similar to New York or California’s.
“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.
Abbott addressed the growing calls for a statewide shelter-in-place order Sunday, saying it was first necessary to assess 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.
He also noted that while he has the authority to issue statewide mandates, local officials may also put in stricter standards for their areas after declaring a local state of disaster.
“And if they choose to do so, I would applaud them for doing so. But at this time, it is not the appropriate approach to mandate that strict standard across every area of the state, especially at a time when we are yet to see the results coming out of my most recent executive order,” Abbott said. “That said, as I’ve said before, I will always remain flexible and on a moment’s notice be able to take whatever strategies are needed at a statewide level to ensure we’re doing all we can to combat the expansion of COVID-19.”
Shortly after Abbott’s announcement, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a stay-at-home order for residents and restricted operations of non-essential businesses.
In a White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing Sunday night, President Donald Trump told reporters he has “total confidence” in Abbott, and when asked if he was concerned about a lack of uniformity between state-level restrictions, Trump said: “Every state is different”
“He’s a great governor and he knows what he’s doing. A lot of the areas that he’s talking about, a lot of the counties he’s talking about, are not very strongly affected,” Trump said when asked about Abbott’s decision not to issue a stay-at-home order yet.
Abbott said “an aggregation of factors” would weigh into a decision to put in stricter standards statewide, including Texans’ compliance with the current restrictions.
Abbott warned that possible repercussions for failing to do so could include fines up to $1,000, jail time up to 180 days and mandatory orders to quarantine or isolate.
“If you don’t have an essential reason to be leaving your home, you should not be leaving your home. It’s pretty much that simple,” Abbott said. “I expect full compliance with that executive order.”
Abbott said there have been six COVID-19 related deaths confirmed in Texas. As of Sunday afternoon, there were at least 334 confirmed cases in Texas — excluding those who had been repatriated from abroad and monitored at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio — and more than 8,750 Texans who had been tested in private and public health labs, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services’ count.
Abbott said the number of Texans tested, and whose tests come back positive for COVID-19, is expected to grow in the coming weeks as the state’s testing capabilities increase.
When asked where Texas’ peak of cases may be, Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt said it “depends completely on our ability to prevent the spread” and stressed it’s necessary to “slow it down so that the peak comes later and lower.”
“That may be some weeks or even months,” Hellerstedt said before the state knows if it’s been successful in doing so.
Abbott reiterated that point when asked if schools will remain closed past April 3 for the remainder of the school year.
“It’s impossible to tell right now, because our stricter standards are just now going into effect,” Abbott said. “It will require at least several weeks of observation to see whether or not there may be some containment of the spread of COVID-19.”
Additional health care facilities will be established this week to help respond to a potential increase in COVID-19 cases, Abbott said.
To help with those efforts, Abbott said the Texas National Guard, which he activated last week, will also be deployed this week to help hospitals, whether it be screening vehicles at drive-through testing facilities, “standing up” additional health care facilities like medical tents, or reinstating recently vacated hospitals.
Abbott also called on the federal government to accelerate the production and supply of COVID-19 testing equipment and personal protection equipment, like medical masks, that help keep health care providers safe while treating patients.
“All states are experiencing this very same challenge,” Abbott said. “We don’t have enough personal protection equipment. We don’t have enough testing and collection equipment. We have the money for it, but the supplies are not available for us to be able to purchase.”
Abbott also announced the formation of a “Supply Chain Strike Force” that will collaborate with the public and private sectors to ensure health care facilities have the resources needed to combat the novel coronavirus’ spread, whether that be medical equipment, personnel or even food.
Members of the strike force will include Keith Miears, senior vice president of worldwide procurement at Dell Technologies; former state Rep. John Zerwas; Clint Harp, the former vice president of transmission strategic services for the Lower Colorado River Authority; and Elaine Mendoza, the chair of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 3:52 PM.
