The Dallas and Tarrant County judges say they are trying to figure out options to slow the spread of COVID-19 without additional flexibility from Governor Greg Abbott's office. Monday, Dallas County reported 1,695 cases of COVID-19 and an addition 136 probable cases; Tarrant County reported 900 cases but has been averaging more than a thousand for the past week.
"We're doing everything we can to figure out, maybe, other ways to approach things given the fact we don't have a lot of flexibility from the governor," says Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, a Republican.
"It's pretty frustrating," says Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, a Democrat. "We need to listen to the doctors, follow the science, do what the people who have trained their entire adult life are telling us to do."
Hospitals in North Texas have open beds, but the number of patients confirmed with COVID-19 has increased to 2,143. Over the past week, the number of patients with COVID-19 has increased by 512.
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Whitley and Jenkins say local officials have communicated well with each other, but they have not been hearing from state leaders.
"There's been good communication between county judges and local leaders like there always has been, but, and I'm trying to think of a clean word for it, poor communication with the state and our federal partners because of it becoming, somehow political," Jenkins says. "There's nothing political about public health. The virus doesn't care who you voted for."
Whitley says doctors are concerned case numbers will keep increasing with holidays approaching. He says he normally celebrates Thanksgiving with extended family. This year, he says he will only celebrate with a few immediate family members.
"We've got to do that with everybody," Whitley says. "Kids are coming home from schools. We just need to be careful because our older population, the folks with underlying health conditions, are the ones who are really going to get caught by this."
While older people and those with chronic conditions are at greater risk, Dallas County Health and Human Services says 843 COVID-19 cases were reported among kids between 5 and 17 years old last week, a 37% increase from the week before. The health department says two thirds of patients who have been hospitalized have been under 65.