Coronavirus in Texas

Universities across the country have started to extend "test-optional" policies for undergraduate applicants as the pandemic wears on. Full Story 

Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants the majority of Texans who are 65 and older to be inoculated against COVID-19 by the end of March. He said the state could announce more eligibility for the vaccines next month. Full Story 

Abbott has kept Texas under a mask mandate since July. Full Story 

Texas expects to see about 1.5 million doses arrive this week, including last week’s undelivered doses, and the opening of three new federally supported vaccination hubs. Full Story 

Texas will get nearly 600,000 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for next week, allowing the state to distribute the vaccine to the largest number of counties so far. The deliveries will help catch up storm-delayed first and second shots for eligible Texans. Full Story 

Vaccine events and appointments across Texas were shut down when snow and ice made travel too dangerous, brought power outages and delayed vaccine deliveries. Full Story 

Local governments and advocacy groups are targeting skeptical communities early, but the state is holding back a large media blitz until more vaccine arrives. Full Story 

While COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are trending downward, the numbers are higher than when Abbott initially announced restrictions on businesses. Full Story 

Combined, the three sites are expected to administer more than 10,000 shots per day, with doses supplied by FEMA. Full Story 

Now praised as heroes of the pandemic, nurses and other front-line medical workers have been routinely scratched, bitten or verbally abused by patients. Well over half of Texas' nurses reported being subject to workplace violence in their career, according to a 2016 state study. Full Story 

Home health workers, most of whom are women of color, could start losing their jobs if they aren't vaccinated against COVID-19. Experts widely agree that the vaccine is safe — Pfizer and Moderna both reported their vaccines are more than 90% effective at protecting people from serious illness — but some still refuse to get a shot. Full Story 

Jackie Tidwell, a sixth-generation Texan living in Seattle, made it her mission to get her 90-year-old grandfather in Corpus Christi vaccinated for COVID-19 and hopes others “have persistent grandkids like me.” Listen, in the weekend edition of The Brief podcast. Full Story 

While vaccinations are reaching more people every day, health care experts warn that this doesn’t mean Texas is out of the woods. Full Story 

Freestanding emergency rooms in Texas have been charging patients’ health insurance plans thousands of dollars for a single coronavirus test. Full Story 

Despite changes to the regular count of people experiencing homelessness, support organizations are hoping they’ll still be able to capture a clear picture of who is unhoused in Texas as the pandemic continues. Full Story 

After the Department of State Health Services neglected to include front-line essential workers in the latest phase of the vaccine rollout, grocery store workers juggle stressful work while waiting for the vaccine. Full Story 

At one point in January, almost half of the city’s hospital patients were admitted because of COVID-19 — the highest percentage in the state. That's caused intense debate about what the city can, and should, do next. Full Story 

The Republican governor said his office is "offering up some legislation ourselves" to deal with some intraparty concerns about executive authority that have cropped up during the coronavirus pandemic. Full Story 

Medical experts say the state will struggle to immunize enough Texans to halt the chain of transmission through vaccination. But they hope to soon see evidence that vaccination efforts are helping to take pressure off the health care system. Full Story 

The virus has overwhelmed hospitals in the border town. One medical worker says the COVID-19 vaccine is giving people hope. Listen to her story in the weekend edition of The Brief podcast. Full Story