Houston mayor says the city's coronavirus crisis could've been avoided if Texas's governor hadn't obstructed local efforts to control the outbreak
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
- Mayor Sylvester Turner blames Gov. Greg Abbott for hindering his efforts to wrestle control of Houston's coronavirus outbreak.
- Texas is the third hardest hit state in the US, and Harris County, where Houston is located, has the highest caseload.
- Texas reopened on May 1, which Turner believes was premature and obliterated "all the gains that we had achieved."
- The coronavirus killed more Houstonians in July alone than it did in March, April, May, and June combined — a catastrophe that Turner believes could've been avoided.
- Turner said Abbott's decision to overrule local leaders' coronavirus mandates resulted in "very conflicting" messaging, and people still aren't taking social distancing and mask orders seriously as a result.
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Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner blames his city's out of control coronavirus outbreak on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to strip away his authority to deal with the pandemic.
Coronavirus cases skyrocketed in Houston in June and July — reflecting a statewide trend — after Abbott reopened the state's economy on May 1, ending one of the nation's shortest stay-home orders. And the governor issued executive orders prohibiting local officials from mandating masks and imposing fines for not complying. White House guidelines instructed states to reopen only after seeing a "downward trajectory" in cases over 14 days, a benchmark that Texas had not met.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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