As Texas shattered a single-day record with 12,000 new coronavirus cases reported, Republican Governor Greg Abbott on Friday ruled out another lockdown and accused local leaders of not enforcing existing restrictions.
His rejection of a lockdown comes as other governors across the US take aggressive new steps to curb record-shattering spikes in Covid-19 cases that are pushing hospitals to the limit.
Texas is on the verge of surpassing 8000 hospitalised Covid-19 patients for the first time since a deadly summer outbreak, which back then Abbott met with orders that closed bars and limited restaurant occupancy.
Healthcare workers process people waiting in line at a Covid-19 testing site in Houston, Texas. Photo / AP
But during a visit to hard-hit Lubbock, where the local health authority says the fire department is building shelves for the dead as morgues run short on space, Abbott made clear Texas will not retreat to lockdown measures again.
"It is important for everybody in the state to know that, statewide, we're not going to have another shutdown," Abbott said.
"There's an overestimation of exactly what a shutdown will achieve."
He focused instead on the arrival of a new antibody drug similar to a treatment President Donald Trump received after contracting the virus last month. But supply of the drug, called bamlanivimab, is scarce for now.
In closing the door on more lockdowns, Abbott said the virus is spreading in social settings beyond businesses. He also singled out El Paso — where Texas has rushed more than 1200 additional medical personnel, and 10 mobile morgues are in place to handle the dead — suggesting county leaders on the border aren't enforcing existing restrictions as they try shutting down gyms and tattoo parlours.
Texas has had a statewide mask mandate since July, and restaurants and businesses continue to operate under reduced occupancy. But even Texas' largest cities say their ranks of code enforcement staff is limited, and some Texas sheriffs have similarly baulked at enforcing mask orders, saying they lack enough deputies to do so.
Abbott has also received blowback from his own party over virus restrictions, including Texas GOP chairman Allen West, the firebrand former Florida congressman, who led a protest outside the governor's mansion last month.
The Texas governor has received blowback from his own party over virus restrictions. Photo / AP
Democrats blasted Abbott for not doing more and pointed out that the news conference was his first about the virus since September.
"It didn't have to be this way. The governor's decision to wield absolute power in response to this crisis has failed," said State Representative Chris Turner, the Democratic leader in the Texas House.
"The governor should get out of the way and let local leaders take measures to protect their communities."
El Paso police say they have issued more than 80 citations and 30 warnings the past two weeks over Covid-19 compliance. A person cited for not wearing a mask can face a US$250 fine on the second violation.
Texas has seen more than 20,300 virus deaths to date, the second-most in the nation, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases has increased by more than 3035, an increase of 44 per cent.
Among the new cases is Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, a 71-year-old Republican who tested positive Thursday. She was quarantining with her husband, who was diagnosed with the disease earlier in the week.
