THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020 N A

HOUSTON — The coronavirus
has been testing America’s gover-
nors. Few are being squeezed
harder than Gov. Greg Abbott of
Texas.
Mr. Abbott, the governor of the
country’s largest Republican-con-
trolled state, reopened Texas in
May, eager to be part of President
Trump’s push to restart the econ-
omy sooner rather than later. But
the reopening has backfired, cre-
ating the makings of a political
and public health disaster that is
putting the lives of Texans at risk,
adding ammunition to Mr. Ab-
bott’s long-running war with the
Democrats who run the state’s
biggest cities and drawing unusu-
ally sharp criticism from fellow
Republicans.
As millions of Texans have
emerged from weeks of isolation
and headed to shopping malls,
movie theaters and beaches, the
governor, faced with an alarming
number of new cases, did an
abrupt about-face this week and
urged people to go back home.
He imposed restrictions on out-
door gatherings of more than 100
people and has cleared the way for
local authorities to require face
masks in businesses — after earli-
er opposing attempts by local offi-
cials to require everyone in their
cities to wear masks in public.
These were the latest in a series
of contradictory moves by the
governor that have proved con-
fusing and frustrating to many
Texans.
For weeks, Mr. Abbott had re-
assured Texans that the virus was
largely under control. “Covid-19,
while dangerous, while still grow-
ing in the state of Texas, is not as
severe as it is in some other
states,” he told reporters in April.
But as the state began to rapidly
reopen, and people returned to
restaurants, bars, malls, hair sa-
lons and gyms, the numbers —
and the governor’s tone and policy
responses — have changed.
New cases, hospitalizations and
the percentage of positive tests
have been on the rise for weeks,
indicators that the coronavirus is
spreading rapidly. Since late May,
the average number of newly re-
ported cases each day has more
than doubled to about 3,500, up
from 1,500. That is not just the re-

sult of more testing: The percent-
age of tests coming back positive
has soared from 4.5 percent to
about 9 percent. Hospitalizations
are also on the rise.
Texas has surpassed more than
100,000 cases, joining a small club
of only six other states to do so —
New York, California, New Jersey,
Illinois, Massachusetts and Flor-
ida. On Wednesday, Texas hit an-
other milestone, recording more
new cases in a single day than it
has since the pandemic started—
more than 6,200 new infections.
Wednesday brought another
turnabout. Texas had previously
ordered all air travelers arriving
from New York, with its then-
booming number of cases, to quar-
antine for 14 days. But on Wednes-
day, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of
New York turned the tables and
announced that travelers from
Texas and eight other hard-hit
states would have to quarantine
there.
The sudden reversal has left Mr.
Abbott with few good options and
an array of critics from both par-
ties — some of them the leaders of
the state’s largely Democratic ma-
jor cities, who have complained
that the state reopened too
quickly and tied their hands when
they wanted to impose virus-con-
trol measures of their own.
“The governor opens up our
economy and says, ‘OK, you guys
go back to work,’ and we expect
nothing to happen?” said Ruben
Becerra, a Democrat and the
county executive in Hays County,
southwest of Austin, where total
confirmed cases have surged
from 353 on June 1 to more than

2,100 on Wednesday.

Mr. Abbott is by no means

alone. Other states led by Republi-

can governors have struggled to

balance their reopenings with the

spread of the virus, while navigat-

ing the politics of mask-wearing

and issues of state versus local

control.

In Arizona, the handling of the

pandemic by Gov. Doug Ducey, a

Republican, has come under in-

tense criticism by Democratic

leaders in Arizona’s largest cities.

Mr. Ducey had resisted allowing

mayors to make mask-wearing

mandatory in their cities. But un-

der pressure over a surge in cases,

Mr. Ducey allowed mayors to im-

plement their own measures.

On Wednesday, Florida saw a

record number of new coro-

navirus cases, but Gov. Ron De-

Santis, a Republican, gave no indi-

cation that the state would roll

back its reopening, urging people

instead to avoid crowds and

closed spaces with poor ventila-

tion.

Texas, though, is facing a chal-

lenge of both politics and num-

bers. If local trends persist, Hous-

ton could become the hardest-hit

city in the country, rivaling the sit-

uation in Brazil, Dr. Peter Hotez,

dean of the National School of

Tropical Medicine at Baylor Col-

lege of Medicine in Houston,

warned this week on Twitter.

Dr. Hotez, one of the state’s

leading experts on contagious dis-

eases and vaccine development,

said in an interview on Wednes-

day that the Houston, San Anto-

nio, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth

metropolitan regions “are facing a

dire public health emergency.”

The governor should require

face masks and tougher social dis-

tancing measures in those four re-

gions immediately, he said. “We

have to take action before the end

of this week,” he said. “If we don’t

do something, there’s nothing to

stop this thing going up the ceil-

ing.”

Dr. Hotez and other public

health experts, along with several

local elected officials, have

blamed the uptick in the virus on

Mr. Abbott’s decision to speedily

reopen the state. They said busi-

nesses were allowed to resume

operations before the state had

enough testing, contact tracing

and other resources in place.

The results surfaced immedi-

ately in cities around the state.

San Antonio’s Bexar County

had 93 patients in county hospi-

tals on June 1, 20 of them on venti-

lators; by Tuesday, those num-

bers had jumped to 518 hospital-

ized, with 79 on ventilators.

“As we opened up Texas, every-

body became very complacent

and were not wearing face

masks,” said Nelson W. Wolff, a

Democrat who serves as the top

elected official in Bexar County.

“Then you have the president run-

ning around and not wearing one,

and the governor only recom-

mending it, not enforcing it, and so

I think people got mixed signals,

and we have seen it spread expo-

nentially.”

Mr. Abbott, a former Texas at-

torney general now in his second

term, has been praised for his

calm and swift handling of Hurri-

cane Harvey, mass shootings and

other large-scale disasters. But he

has also been criticized, even by

some in his own party, for too often

following the lead of the state’s

second-in-command, Lt. Gov. Dan

Patrick, an outspoken arch-con-

servative who made national

headlines for saying he and other

grandparents were willing accept

the threat to their own lives if that

is what it took to reopen the coun-

try.

Mr. Abbott, his aides and his

supporters defended his response

to Covid-19 and said Texas can

both reopen its economy and

maintain public health.

“People must know the facts,”

Mr. Abbott told KTVT in Fort

Worth on Tuesday. “The facts are

that Covid-19 is expanding far

faster and far wider than at any

time during the pandemic in

Texas. That is why we are having

to take additional measures.”

But the governor has had to

carefully navigate the state’s com-

plicated politics in trying to con-

trol the virus.

The phased opening-up has fu-

eled a backlash among some con-

servatives, who resist wearing

masks in public and say the state

needs to go even further. (Bars

now operate at 50 percent capaci-

ty, while restaurants operate at 75

percent capacity.)

In just one example of the poli-

tics at play, the Texas Democratic

Party held an online-only conven-

tion recently, while the Republi-

can Party is planning an in-person

convention in Houston in July.

Mr. Abbott has leaned on con-

servative, pro-business, small-

government themes, but has also

sent conflicting messages.

The governor initially resisted

calls to issue a stay-at-home order,

as other states had done, before is-

suing an executive order in early

April. But even that led to a flurry

of confusion, when he said at a

news conference that it did not

amount to a stay-at-home order.

The next day, he released a video

message clarifying that it did.

The order lasted 28 days, one of

the shortest stay-at-home orders

in the country.

Since businesses began reopen-

ing in early May, Mr. Abbott has

gone head-to-head with the

mostly Democratic mayors in the

state’s largest cities, who have

begged for more power to impose

tougher restrictions. At first, Mr.

Abbott’s approach was to let local

officials handle the response.

Then he shifted course, issuing an

executive order that made it clear

the state’s coronavirus rules nulli-

fied local ones. His stance shifted

again in recent days when he al-

lowed cities and counties to re-

quire businesses to have

customers and employees wear

masks and to fine business own-

ers who did not comply.

Democratic critics who had

been fighting for more local con-

trol said the governor’s turnabout

came too late. Some Republicans

saw Mr. Abbott’s move as throw-

ing business owners under the

bus.

“Business owners will become a

de facto law enforcement arm, but

the only tool they will have to en-

force the mask requirement is to

refuse to sell to their customers

and to kick them out of their

store,” State Senator Bob Hall, a

Republican from East Texas,

wrote in a posting online. “Who

knew the flame of Texas Liberty

would be extinguished, by the

stroke of a pen, without a shot

fired?”

In Galveston, a beach city

southeast of Houston, Mayor

James D. Yarbrough ordered

mandatory face masks for all

businesses starting on Tuesday.

The number of people who tested

positive rose to more than 300 this

week from about 50 at the end of

May.

The city has seen packed

beaches and crowds in restau-

rants, bars and souvenir shops.

“There is no social distance —

there are minimal masks,” said

Mr. Yarbrough, a Democrat. “We

are seeing a lot more younger peo-

ple, what we call day trippers,” he

said. “They come to spend the day

and leave their trash and Covid

and go on back.”

SPIKE IN TEXAS

As New Cases Soar, the Governor Faces Fallout From a Rush to Reopen

After weeks of assurances that the coronavirus was largely under control, Texans were encouraged to resume shopping and eating

out, as in the South Congress area of Austin. But since late May, newly reported cases have more than doubled, to about 3,500 a day.

ILANA PANICH-LINSMAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES CALLAGHAN O’HARE/REUTERS

This article is by Manny Fernan-
dez, Neil MacFarquharand Sarah
Mervosh.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has
suggested that shutting down
the state is still a “last option.”

RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL/AUSTIN AMERICAN-

STATESMAN, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Manny Fernandez reported from
Houston, Neil MacFarquhar from
New York and Sarah Mervosh
from Pittsburgh. Contributing re-
porting were David Montgomery
from Austin, Simon Romero from
Albuquerque and Patricia Mazzei
from Miami.

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