Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ Pressure to close the Houston Rodeo intensified after @sxsw was canceled.

Rodeo and government leaders insisted their event was different.

But our reporting shows they knew coronavirus could spread at the rodeo and proceeded anyway.

w/ @propublica bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

2/ The rodeo is the city’s largest event, attracting 2.5 million people and generating nearly $400 million in economic activity for the region.

Officials pushed forward with the 20-day event until there was a positive #COVID19 case from community spread. bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

3/ Days before the event kicked off, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo reassured residents that “the overall risk of COVID-19 to the general public within our counties remains low at this time.”

bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

4/ Meanwhile, at the Rodeo Houston headquarters, organizers worried that the event would have to be shut down early as they watched a global increase in coronavirus cases. bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

5/ “Do we really think the rodeo will be shut down?” they asked Dr. Kelly Larkin, an ER physician and longtime board member of the rodeo.

Yes, she said. bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

6/ “It is my belief that you should use your authority to basically shut down the Houston Rodeo," the former director of the @UHouston’s Health Law & Policy Institute wrote to the head of the city’s health department before opening day. bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

7/ Organizers and other key leaders shared little of these concerns with the public and instead stayed on message: COVID-19 was not a local threat and the 20-day rodeo would go on. bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

8/ When a New York woman who attended the rodeo on March 8 tested positive, the Houston Health Department said, “she was not symptomatic during the Rodeo visit and there is a low risk to attendees." bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

9/ However, there had already been reports of patients who tested positive despite having no symptoms or very mild ones, and epidemiologists were warning that such patients could infect others before they realized they were sick with COVID-19. bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

10/ Ultimately, on March 11, after eight days, the rodeo shut down.

A police officer from a neighboring county who attended a pre-rodeo barbecue tested positive for COVID-19.

Officials had evidence that it was now spreading in the community. bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

11/ Claus Wilke, who studies evolution of viruses, thinks the rodeo should have closed earlier.

But he said it’s hard to pin blame solely on organizers or the city when neither the federal government nor @GovAbbott had issued guidance on such events. bit.ly/2wSB7Rk

12/12 Rodeo president Joel Cowley said that at no point did organizers believe they were doing something incredibly risky.

“We felt we were discussing this with experts ... and we were still conducting our events being hyper vigilant about hygiene.” bit.ly/2wSB7Rk