Greg Abbott Still Blames Bar Owners

Just like that - in Houston we, the pediatricians at Texas Children's Hospital, will now start seeing adult patients. I'm up for the challenge, but please help us out. #WearAMask and stay home. I guess its time to retire my giraffe reflex hammer...

— Shubhada Hooli, MD, MPH (@ShubhadaH) June 23, 2020

There are 3,711 patients *confirmed* to have #COVID19 in Texas hospitals, another record high. This is a 111% increase from the start of June.

In the Houston area, the @TXMedCenter forecasts ICU capacity could be exceeded in two weeks (https://t.co/NwEdAFiZIc) https://t.co/zZBcHOBzwC pic.twitter.com/K86QTspOXu

— Shannon (@ShannonNajma) June 22, 2020

When Gov. Greg Abbott let businesses start reopening, he pointed to two metrics as encouraging signs: the hospitalization rate and the infection rate, or the ratio of positive cases to tests conducted.

Both of those metrics are on the rise in Texas. https://t.co/btUEpR2qZX

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) June 22, 2020

.@govabbott said “COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas and it must be corralled.”

But he stopped short of introducing any new policies or pulling back on the reopening of Texas businesses. https://t.co/bzmJKRSQuR

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) June 22, 2020

Those strategies include stepping up enforcement of guidelines in places like bars where large crowds have gathered, "surging testing in areas that may be hot spots" and working with hospitals to ensure they have capacity for coronavirus patients. He continued to describe hospital capacity as "abundant."

Enforcement of guidelines means TABC is going to suspend liquor licenses for bars that are too full.  So you can open, but you can't have enough people in the bar to pay your bills.  If they catch you, which they probably won't.  So please don't crowd the bars, but it's okay, we have plenty of hopsital space.

Except in the Texas Medical Center.  Oh, and at Texas Children's Hospital. Or in any major urban area in Texas. But you can probably find a hospital bed in a rural area, or a small town; if you're willing to look for it.  Look, people, it's up to you.  All the state can do is open businesses; and then scold you for using them.