'And then, boom': Outbreak shows shaky ground as Texas opens

[BeyondGeography]

PARIS, Texas (AP) — Barely a week ago, rural Lamar County could make a pretty good argument for Texas’ reopening on Friday.

Only a handful of the 50,000 residents here, right on the border with Oklahoma, had tested positive for the coronavirus. None had died. The mayor of Paris, Texas — a pit stop for drivers passing through to snap a selfie with the city’s miniaturized Eiffel Tower — had drive-thru virus testing in the works, just to give locals peace of mind. Some wore masks but many saw little reason to bother.

Then an outbreak at a nursing home turned up over the weekend.

Now at least 65 people are infected, and everything has changed. A courier drove 11 hours through the night to pick up testing kits and stores are second-guessing reopening as Lamar County becomes a cautionary tale of the fragility of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to get Texas back in business faster than many states. And on the eve of every retailer, restaurant and movie theater being allowed to let customers back in the door, Texas set a single-day record high for COVID-19 fatalities Thursday with 50.

“We don’t know what it’s going to do here,” said Taylor Wright, owner of Aden Ann’s, a women’s boutique in Paris. Word of the sudden outbreak at Paris Healthcare Center, she said, shelved her plans to reopen over fears of exposing her staff and family. “We don’t know where it’s all spreading,” she said...

https://apnews.com/490aee062b36ab64c76c624f9674a89c

[gratuitous]

1. ". . . and everything has changed"

I don't expect the Trump administration to do anything useful, but the media seem to have been struck by a case of collective amnesia about the incubation period for Covid-19. That is, whatever the situation looks like today, the present situation was put in place by what was going on 14-21 days ago. If you're looking at today and thinking "Oh, we only have one case in our county," that's what was true two or three weeks ago.

[dem4decades]

3. Someone brought it into the nursing home and someone probably carried it out.

Good luck with that without testing and tracing. This is not just a Texas problem.

[BrightKnight]

28. Covid rehab patients go to the homes and the staff homemade PPE.

They have said that old and weak people should die for the economy their perceived political advantage. Outright said this.

[Takket]

8. also they don't seem to notice the literally dozens of test cases in other countries

some have had severe lockdown, some not, some have had lots of testing, some not, some contact tracing, some not......... we have all these live experiments going on so it shouldn't be hard to figure out what to do, but we ignore all this free data because the gop is absolutely in LOVE with drumpf and only cares about improving the economy for him.

[gibraltar72]

2. Abbott is stupid. But he's probably OK with sacrificing a few hundred Texans

to stay in good with Trump.

[uponit7771]

10. +1, he wont sacrifice himself or his family members

[rdking647]

12. he hasnt restarted tours of the governors mansion....

[dalton99a]

23. Because he knows about this chart:

[Mariana]

18. Except it won't be a few hundred. nt.

[iluvtennis]

24. + agree...it'll be thousands based on the statistics from April. nt

[UpInArms]

4. It's like a bomb ...

You just don’t have a clue where it was placed ... set ... or when it will go off

What a crappy virus ... so silent ... so deadly

[uponit7771]

11. +1, there was only one of those Alien things per person in the movie. CV19 1 person can infect 5 ...

... and so on and so on.

Some horror movie shit, the kids don't get as affected but can kill their parents.

Tucker Carlson just claimed kids aren't getting CV19 and aren't infecting their parents ... omg, these people are horrible

[Grokenstein]

16. The difference between The Truth and What The Audience Wants To Hear.

It's often lethal.

[ooky]

5. I think we will become all too accustomed to reading this story over

coming weeks and months as communities try to force things that cannot be forced.

[eleny]

6. Ubetcha they're wondering and worrying now

Local people work at the nursing home and have families and the web of relationships is probably tight in that small a community.

So how much do they want to risk for the almighty pumpkin head in the White House? They're being forced to consider their priorities.

I just hope they don't mainline the Pine-Sol.

[TeamPooka]

7. Don't worry Texas, Trump says you're fine and not sick and get back to work

[BrightKnight]

29. Play Russian roulette or they will cancel your unemployment

No safety standards, PPE, or testing

[TeamPooka]

30. Republicans call it "freedom"

[hatrack]

9. The "fragility" of Abbot's plan? How about the STUPIDITY?

Jesus Hubert Christ.

[rdking647]

13. i live in austin

maybe 1/2 of the businesses plan to reopen.
but a lot of my friends not only wont go to any reopened business,once everything does reopen they are only going to businesses that stayed closed until it was safe

[efhmc]

14. Thanks. I was going to write about this but thought not worth the effort since others here

see all Texans as idiots. Most people I know will not be going into places with no protections from the virus any time soon. And lots of places will not even be open yet. (Alamo Draft House) for in house dining.

[LeftInTX]

20. I will go to the Pest Management Warehouse on Monday

It's not really a warehouse. It's one guy in a 400 sq ft storefront. I get all my pest control supplies from them. (Professional products)
Roaches are back. It's always just the owner and no other customers

ETA: If the warehouse isn't open, I can order the supplies online from another place. They may have been open during the business closed thing, since pest control is considered essential.

[gay texan]

15. I can speak volumes to this particular area

I grew up in this town. People there are stupid, gullible, and happy to be ignorant, well, because they "gotta stick it to the libs"

This is the mentality you are dealing with. If you frequent the Facebook message boards, it's roughly 75% hoax/democratic plot/not as bad as the flu and the remaining 25% gets it. People are freaked the fuck out because they can't go to church on Sunday and/or get a pedi-mani. Again, all the Lib's fault.

Yeah i fucking hate that place with a passion. This city is a black hole of self absorbed, racist, Fox watching, chirsto-fascist white people who thinks the world revolves around them giving very little regard for those beneath them.

The hospitals and nursing homes there are owned by corporations and they just laid off 40% of their workforce. People congregate in the supermarkets and the wal-mart super center on the east side of town, bitching about stupid rules, wondering why there are shortages, blindly proud of how Hillary would have fucked this whole thing up.

Here's the thing: Nobody, and i mean NOBODY in power in that town will learn the lesson from any of this. It will be written off as someone else's fault and never taking the time to look in the fucking mirror. Elections and retention of power is paramount to anything else.

The mayor stood on the lines of the right decision while doctors jumped up and down screaming "what the hell do you not understand???"

This is life there. This is the mentality you are dealing with

[UTUSN]

17. Cogent description.

[mrsadm]

25. On wow! Thanks for your comments.....

I am so thankful to be living in NY and seeing Cuomo daily doing sensible things, I forget how different it can be in places like Texas. Different cultures indeed.

[Horse with no Name]

27. I'm familiar with the area too

Everything you said. And more.

[James48]

19. VOTING RED - COVID DEAD

I’m thinking I need to get some bumper stickers made. Voting Red = Covid Dead

[gay texan]

21. I'll buy one. n/t

[Captain Zero]

22. By all means

A little more magical Thinking should get the job done...

[LudwigPastorius]

26. Abbott is a dick, and is playing a dangerous game with the live of the citizens of his state.

Nobody has any idea how many cases there are in Texas, because the percentage of the population that has been tested falls well below the already abysmal national average. Only 1.1% of Texans have been tested.

I believe that the CDC suggested that reopening not even be considered without a clear 14 day trend of decreasing new cases. New cases, and deaths, are actually increasing in Abbott's state.

But, he's a Trump-humping GOPer, so he's gotta be a tough guy who's all about "bidness". Fuck him.