In Texas, restaurants are already serving smaller customers than usual, and bars are set to follow suit this week. But, in the big US state cantor of a deconfinement accelerated, some believe that these measures are premature, noting the increase in cases of coronavirus.
Since May 1, this southern state has orchestrated its recovery, led by a Republican governor who puts the economy first, much to the chagrin of Democratic mayors in major cities.
Bars will reopen on Friday with reduced capacity
Bars, craft breweries and wine tasting rooms will open on Friday, provided they only accommodate a quarter of their usual capacity.
They are among the last businesses to reopen in the “Lone Star State” where shops, shopping centers, hair salons and even UV rays have resumed partial activity for several weeks.
Yet cases of contamination continue to increase in Texas. According to the authorities, at least 48,693 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and 1,347 died. The state reported 1,801 new cases on Saturday, a record since the start of the pandemic.
An increase partially explained by the Amarillo outbreak in the north of the state, where more than 700 cases of Covid-19 were detected on Saturday among workers in meat packing plants.
More than 700 new cases of coronavirus reported in Amarillo region | The Texas Tribune https://t.co/LQ7F73l8sd
– Sally Ray CDP (@ SallyRay51) May 18, 2020
Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday that the region will have an additional week before continuing to reopen the economy.
But unemployment figures are too high and unacceptable
, he said to justify the measures taken elsewhere. The best thing we can do is keep reopening
.
More than 2.5 million Texans have filed for unemployment benefits since March 14.
To try to mitigate the effects of this crisis as quickly as possible, restaurants can now increase their reception capacity by 25 to 50%. But that won’t solve all the problems, says Anna Tauzin of the Texas Restaurant Association (TRA). After six weeks of inactivity, she believes the damage is done.
The situation of the restaurants was not 25% viable, it was not 50% viable, it would not be 75%
, she laments, assuring that the customers, frightened by the virus and penniless, are not numerous enough.
“You can go out now”
The city of El Paso has also managed to wrest exceptional treatment from Greg Abbott and postpone the date for the next phase of reopening.
Vanessa Zubia-Meza, who opened her restaurant in El Paso just before the pandemic started, is afraid of exposing her customers to potential contagion if she reopens her dining room, but the bills are piling up and we have to make at least a little profit to compensate
, she justifies herself. It currently only offers take-out meals.
Like other Texan democratic agglomerations, the Hispanic-majority city, whose number of cases has increased enormously in the last two weeks, is worried about the re-opening process carried out at high speed by the governor, despite the opinion of certain experts.
Eleven hours away, east of Texas, same speech by the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, who regrets the decision of Greg Abbott, popular
but premature.
“When you forced people to stay at home and someone else came in and said, It’s okay, you can go out now
“, this is what people want to hear
, he creaked Monday at a press conference.
My only hope and my only prayer is now that in several weeks, we don’t see a peak
contagions, he said.
Hope In vain According to Peter Hotez, Infectious Disease Expert from Houston, who notes that the early containment measures had succeeded in keeping the intensive care units saturated, but that such a rapid reopening will surely cause a sharp increase
cases this summer in Texas.
We have not put in place a health system that meets the demands of a reopening of the economy
, he believes
– .
