Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the state's increasing COVID-19 cases will not lead to new state-wide rules forcing some businesses to shut down.
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"It's important for everybody in the state to know that state-wide, we're not going to have another shut down," Gov. Abbott said. "There's an over-estimation of what a shutdown will achieve, and there's a misunderstanding about what a shutdown will not achieve".
He told reporters in Lubbock the un-intended consequences of a lock-down would outweigh any benefits.
"There are known severe medical consequences, emotional and mental type-consequences as well as the devastating financial consequences," he said. "One of the most common ways that COVID is spread today is not by someone going to work but by people gathering together in home settings...or in casual settings after bars close or something like that. So shut downs will not lead to the positive results that some people think."
The Governor said local officials who may want more action from the state should instead take action themselves.
"There are plenty of tools in the toolboxes of local authorities to achieve the results that are needed," he said. "If you go back to my last executive order, it provided what the protocols are if hospitalizations increased above a threshold level in a particular region. It provided additional tools such as closing down bar settings, such as reducing occupancy capacity and other tools that local officials do have."
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