Houston-area officials are "getting close" to reimposing stay-at-home orders and are prepared to reopen a Covid-19 hospital established but never used at a football stadium as virus cases expand in the fourth-largest U.S. city.
The announcement by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday came a day after the Lone Star state recorded its highest one-day tally of new cases since the pandemic emerged.
"We may be approaching the precipice of a disaster," said Hidalgo, the highest-ranking county executive. "It's out of hand right now." Texas has been among the states pushing hardest to ease lockdowns imposed during the first wave of a disease that has killed more than 113,000 Americans.
The ad hoc medical facility opened at NRG Stadium on the city's south side will be reestablished if pressure on the local hospital system becomes "severe," Hidalgo said in a meeting with reporters.
BLOOMBERG