Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that his state is doing remarkably well in minimizing coronavirus death and infection rates, despite heavy criticism following his decision to ease restrictions.
The Republican governor said in a tweet that it was reported that there were no deaths in the state on Sunday related to COVID-19, the first time Texas experienced such a feat since they started tracking coronavirus data. He also said that the state reported the fewest number of infection cases in more than a year.
Today Texas reported:
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 17, 2021
* 0 Covid related deaths--the only time that's happened since data was tracked in March, 2020.
* the fewest Covid cases in over 13 months
* the lowest 7-day Covid positivity rate ever
* the lowest Covid hospitalizations in 11 months.
Thanks, Texans!
While Texas did not have any reported casualties due to the coronavirus Sunday, there is a cause for skepticism as the heavily populated Dallas County does not report new COVID-19 data on Sundays, according to The Dallas Morning News.
CDC data also shows that Texas had more than 300 deaths last week related to the coronavirus.
Abbott’s comments follows his decision in March to lift the mask mandate in the state, when he said that it is time to fully reopen Texas.
When the decision was made by the governor, many Americans were not eligible to get vaccinated.
President Joe Biden said in response to the lifted mask mandate in Texas:
We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we’re able to get vaccines in people’s arms. We’ve been able to move that all the way up to the end of May to have enough for every American to get — every adult American to get a shot. And the last thing — the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine, take off your mask.
Abbott said that the president's remarks were hypocritical as he had just allowed migrants infected with COVID-19 to enter the state of Texas.
He said on "Fox and Friends" back in March:
The Biden administration was exposing Texans to COVID. That is a Neanderthal-type approach to dealing with the COVID situation.
The CDC reported that on Monday, Texas suffered 42 new COVID-19 deaths and experienced a seven-day positivity rate of less than 5 percent.
An additional 650 coronavirus cases were reported in the state on Sunday. This included 595 new cases.