In some other states, the recent surge in new cases around the country has prompted officials to delay reopening plans.
States with growing coronavirus outbreaks might not need to shut down again like many did in March, but they might need to consider pausing or rolling back stages of reopening,White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.
Fauci specifically cited Texas, Arizona, Florida and other states with “a serious problem” as places that might need to consider such measures.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say an absolute shutdown, lockdown, but if someone is going from gateway to phase one to phase two and they get into trouble in phase two, they may need to go back to phase one,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told members of Congress during a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “I don’t think they necessarily need to go back to lockdown.”
“Gateway” refers to requirements the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laid out in its reopening guidelines that the agency says should be satisfied before a state considers moving into the next phase of reopening. The gateway requirements include indicators like 14 days of decreasing daily new cases and decreases in emergency department visits.
Cases have been rising in recent weeks in more than two dozen states, mostly across the American South and West. On Tuesday, California, Arizona and Texas all reported more new cases in a single day than ever before. In some parts of the country, including the Houston area in Harris County, Texas, hospitals are nearing ICU capacity and could be forced to move to surge operations “in a few weeks,” according to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office.
