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Texas Governor Eyes Executive Order to Allow Reopening of Businesses

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, announced on Friday, April 10, that he hopes to sign a new executive order sometime in the coming week that will provide businesses with an outline for guidelines on how to begin reopening. Business shut-downs across the Lone Star State came about due to precautionary measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Next week I will be providing an executive order talking about what will be done in Texas about reopening Texas businesses,” Abbott stated at a news conference. He went on to add that it must be done “in a way that will be safe for that economic revitalization… We will focus on protecting lives while restoring livelihoods. We can and we must do this.”

Texas Governor Eyes Executive Order to Allow Reopening of Businesses

Photo: envato elements

The order will aim to restore livelihoods while at the same time ensuring lives are kept safe. The full details regarding the executive order have not yet be released.

Governor Abbott signed an executive order back on March 19, 2020, that closed schools, restaurants, gyms, and bars. He noted at the time that the best hope we had of defeating the invisible enemy was to work together. It was hoped that the shut-down, coupled with social distancing, would reduce the rate of COVID-19’s expansion. The governor said in March, “We are doing this now, today, so that we can get back to business as usual more quickly.”

Also on Friday, President Trump stated he’s also considering a decision regarding social distancing measures on a federal level. The president admitted it’s the “biggest decision” he’s ever had to make.

COVID-19, or the coronavirus, has claimed the lives of over 18,000 Americans at the time of this writing. Across the U.S. there have been almost 500,000 reportedly positive cases of the disease, which originated in China and quickly spread around the world with sometimes devastating results.