The latest health care news from The Texas Tribune.
Gov. Greg Abbott is allowing limits on outdoor crowds — but not indoor gatherings. His party's convention — with an expected attendance of 6,000 — so far will not require attendees to wear face masks. Full Story
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The Associated Press reported that a judge wrote in her order that migrant detention centers “are ‘on fire’ and there is no more time for half measures.” Full Story
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"If I could go back and redo anything, it probably would have been to slow down the opening of bars," Abbott said in a TV interview Friday evening. Full Story
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The vice president was already scheduled to speak Sunday at First Baptist Dallas, though his trip is taking on a more somber tone as the state scrambles to respond to what Gov. Greg Abbott has described as a "massive outbreak" of coronavirus cases. Full Story
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A bipartisan group of elected officials in Texas had urged the federal government not to close the sites. Full Story
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New cases in Texas are approaching 6,000 per day, and nearly two-thirds of them have been recorded in 11 counties over the past two weeks. Full Story
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The moves, announced Friday morning, represent Abbott's most dramatic action yet in response to a surge in cases after he allowed businesses to reopen in the state. Full Story
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“The setting will be similar to a Medical-Surgical Unit with a capability of treating critical care patients," reads a description for a 100-bed site in Austin, according to an email obtained by The Texas Tribune. Full Story
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“We can protect Texans’ lives while also restoring their livelihoods,” Abbott said this week. As cases surge, the question has become: How many Texans’ lives? Full Story
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For a second time since the start of the pandemic, Abbott banned elective surgeries to preserve bed space for coronavirus patients. But this time the hold on the nonessential procedures is only in effect for Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Travis counties. Full Story
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The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, limits on cross-border commerce and a downturn in the energy sector have hit the Rio Grande Valley's economy especially hard. Full Story
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Using TaskRabbit and Venmo, a Silicon Valley investor and his business partner had workers repackage nonmedical KN95 masks so he could sell them to Texas emergency workers. Full Story
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In early May, Gov. Greg Abbott pointed to the positivity rate — a ratio of positive COVID-19 tests to all tests — and said anything over 10% was cause for alarm. As of Wednesday, Texas exceeded that mark for the first time since April. Full Story
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The federal government plans to cease funding for the sites at the end of June. Full Story
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The tables have turned: Texas previously had similar self-quarantining requirements for hot spots like New York and Louisiana. Now that Texas is the latest hot spot, states are imposing restrictions against travelers from the Lone Star State. Full Story
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Texas government is going in two directions at once, with Gov. Greg Abbott blowing a whistle on rising COVID-19 numbers while top education officials detail plans to open public schools for in-person classes this fall. Full Story
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The governor also moved for the first time to allow the tightening of two kinds of restrictions that had been eased under his reopening plan. Full Story
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Regionally, some hospital officials are reporting that intensive care units are near or over capacity, and local leaders have warned that hospitals could get overwhelmed if the number of infections keeps climbing. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott also issued an order allowing local officials to regulate public outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people. Those officials previously could only regulate events of over 500 people. Full Story
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Three Texas doctors didn’t know about the coronavirus when they filed to run for Congress this year, but now the pandemic has upended their professional and political lives. Full Story
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