For Texans looking for work due to coronavirus, Abbott says nearly 500K jobs available
Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that plans to slowly reopen Texas’ economy are moving forward and directed Texans to resources where they can find hundreds of thousands of jobs available across the state in the meantime.
Abbott said companies like Amazon, H-E-B, Lockheed Martin and Fidelity Investments are currently hiring, and pointed job seekers to WorkInTexas.com, a website developed by the Texas Workforce Commission. The site currently lists about 490,000 open jobs, and Abbott described it as a “one-stop shopping location” that allows results to be searched for by keyword and location.
In the Tarrant County area, residents can also visit resources like the Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County’s website, to find resources locally.
“The good news is, Texas is prepared to take very positive steps toward opening up our state and finally ensuring that we’re going to have more of our employees going back to work,” Abbott said Tuesday from the Texas Capitol.
The virus has rocked the economy, and stay-at-home orders have forced some businesses to close and have led to record job losses and claims for unemployment insurance. And on Monday, oil prices plunged below zero.
Abbott said job losses and the effects on Texans’ livelihoods has been “one of the harshest consequences of what we have dealt with so far other than the loss of life.”
Abbott also said that revised guidance on businesses reopening their doors was still set to be announced Monday, April 27, in addition to updates to his executive order requiring Texans stay home though April unless participating in services deemed “essential” by the state.
The current order lasts through April 30, but Abbott said Monday he will be issuing “a new order for the state going forward, and there will either be portions of that, or all of that, that have statewide application.”
Abbott had previously floated the possibility of scaling back statewide social distancing requirements if the number of positive cases declines in Texas. And Abbott said Tuesday that he believes the data shows Texas’ testing strategy is effective in providing a snapshot of the virus’ spread in the state, pointing to the factors like a relatively steady number of hospitalizations and that hospital capacity has not been overwhelmed.
“Even though we have more people who are testing positive every single day, we have roughly the same number of people who are hospitalized every day,” Abbott said. “That means mathematically, the percentage of people who are hospitalized is growing smaller and smaller in relation to those who are testing positive for COVID-19.”
However, the number of cases across Texas is likely higher than reported as testing has been limited. Dallas-Fort Worth residents previously reported being unable to get tested for COVID-19 even when showing symptoms, and local officials have pointed to the need for increased testing. Texas also ranks near the bottom nationwide in per capita testing.
While Abbott said new statewide restrictions were on the way, in recent days local officials have taken differing approaches on whether to loosen or tighten social distancing mandates for their areas.
Monday night, Collevyille Mayor Richard Newton issued a proclamation that allows more relaxed restrictions than Abbott’s order starting Friday, including restaurants being allowed to open outdoor patios as long as social distancing measures are followed. Meanwhile, Dallas County officials voted Tuesday afternoon to extend the county’s stay-at-home order through May 15.
But local restrictions that are at odds with Abbott’s statewide mandates may be short-lived, as Abbott said Tuesday that areas of his executive order that apply statewide, “would overrule any local jurisdiction determination about their executive order.”
Shortly after Tuesday’s press conference, Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton issued new guidance on religious services. Abbott had previously deemed religious services as “essential” and allowed for some in-person services, which initially caused confusion over local restrictions that had banned in-person religious services altogether.
While houses of worship should operate remotely to the greatest extent possible and follow federal guidance when providing services in-person, the guidelines explicitly stated that: “Local governments may not order houses of worship to close.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 5:26 PM.
