Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says there are signs that the county's “safer at home” order is working.
Naturally, people are starting to ask when businesses can reopen. There is a stillness throughout Dallas County. Doors are closed during a time when people would normally be out catching springtime sales or eating on patios.
“When can we do that? I can’t give you a date, but I can tell you that it’s not while we’re going up. It’s not while we’re peaking. It’s as we come down,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the county has not yet reached its peak and opening too soon could do more harm than good.
“Really bad is you do it wrong and you get a whole second wave of COVID,” he said.
Ultimately, he said public health experts would be the guiding voice on when business could resume. And even then, it’s likely something that would happen in phases.
“There are some businesses that can probably open faster than others. And so you’d open up a segment of business and you’d see how that goes,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said a request was made through the STAR program for more COVID-19 tests in North Texas. He said reopening businesses where people might gather in large numbers would create an even greater need to track cases.
At the state level, Gov. Gregg Abbott said discussions were ongoing about what reopening businesses would look like. We could see his plan in the coming days.
“Now later this week, I will outline both safe and healthy strategies, where we can begin the process of going about re-opening businesses in Texas and revitalizing our economy,” Abbott said.
