Both Vice President Mike Pence and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott acknowledged Sunday that there has been a rapid rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the state in recent weeks after Abbott begin allowing businesses to start reopening in early May.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, right, is followed by Vice President Mike Pence, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Dr. John Hellerstedt, left, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services as they arrive for a news conference after Pence met with Abbott and members of his health care team regarding COVID-19 at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center West Campus in Dallas, Sunday, June 28, 2020.
(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
“Covid-19 has taken a very swift and very dangerous turn in Texas over just the past few weeks,” said Abbott, who on Friday again shut down bars and limited restaurant dining, a day after Texas reported a record high confirmed positive tests of 5,996.
“You flattened the curve here in Texas…but about two weeks ago something changed” and the number of positive confirmed cases have risen from about 2,000 cases a day to more than 5,000 a day.
Texas health officials on Sunday reported at least 148,728 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state and 2,393 deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, a jump of 5,347 cases and 27 additional deaths from numbers reported Saturday.
