BREAKING: Huge surge in COVID-19 cases in Texas today. The state is reporting 1,801 new cases since yesterday - the biggest one day surge we've had to deal with.
A big reason is the Texas Panhandle were more than 700 new cases flagged just in #Amarillo area. Cases in Potter County doubled in 8 days.
Statewide this has been a terrible three days for deaths in Texas. Another 33 people died since yesterday giving us 147 in three days. This is the worst 3 day stretch since this all began. We are averaging 33 deaths per day in May. In April we averaged 25 deaths per day.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott put out a public statement to the media acknowledging the surge and said it is due to him sending a surge response team that has increased testing in Amarillo in hot spots.
"As Texas continues ramping up its testing capabilities, there will be an increase in positive cases as the state targets the most high-risk areas: nursing homes, meat packing plants and jails," said @GovAbbott in statement (more..."
..."By immediately deploying resources and supplies to these high risk areas, we will identify the positive cases, isolate the individuals and ensure any outbreak is quickly contained, which is the strategy being deployed in Amarillo."
And more bad news. Hospitalizations in Texas up slightly again. We are now at 1,791 - that's the 3rd highest count we've had.
But good news is we still have lots of hospital capacity still, and plenty of ventilators according to state data.
But good news is we still have lots of hospital capacity still, and plenty of ventilators according to state data.
