Don’t mess with Texas — even in the midst of surging COVID cases.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday said he won’t budge on his vehement opposition to implementing stricter COVID-19 restrictions, even though the Lone Star state hit a record high in daily infection rates over the weekend.
On Saturday, Texas set a single-day case record of more than 12,500 COVID-19 infections, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Abbott, however, appeared unfazed by the alarming surge of COVID-19 rates in his state during an interview on CNBC on Monday.
When asked whether he plans to implement a lockdown or tighten coronavirus restrictions given the state’s COVID-19 surge, Abbott bluntly replied: “no more lockdowns in Texas.”
The Texas governor brought up automatic restrictions that were implemented in the event of a region’s hospitalization numbers crossing a certain threshold. Abbott then argued that the measures, which include closing bars in those areas, will do enough to stop the spread.
“It has led, for example, to that decrease in spread in El Paso and, I think, the decrease in spread in Lubbock, causing those locations to get better already,” Abbott said.
According to the Washington Post, the seven-day average of new infections in El Paso County has decreased significantly in recent weeks from 1,541 on Nov. 1 to 1,120 on Sunday. But Abbott’s assessment of Lubbock County is misleading, given the average number of new COVID-19 cases in the county has continued rising, going from 325 on Nov. 1 to 477 on Sunday.
Watch Abbott’s remarks below:
