1/ Because of the holiday weekend, you will likely notice two weird changes in reported COVID-19 data over the next week.

@COVID19Tracking explains why both expected changes don’t necessarily mean anything about the state of the pandemic itself.
bit.ly/3q3YwGn
2/ First, testing, cases and death numbers will likely flatten out or drop through the holiday weekend, as more doctor’s offices and testing centers are closed and fewer health department staff are at their desks.
3/ The Texas Department of State Health Services says they are planning to update numbers each day, but some local health departments won’t be, which means daily case numbers may appear lower than they are over the holiday.
4/ Then, in the week following the holiday, numbers will spike. Holidays, like weekends, cause testing and reporting to go down and then, a few days later, to “catch up.”
5/ During a normal week, Wednesday through Saturday usually see peak reporting for tests, cases and deaths, while Sunday and Monday are usually very low in comparison.

This is why many emphasize using seven-day averages for most COVID-19 metrics.
6/ This means the data we see early next week will reflect not only actual increases, but also the potentially very large backlog from the holiday.

We saw similar holiday effects over the summer on July 4 and Labor Day.
7/ There are a few metrics that should remain relatively stable through the holiday — current hospitalizations reported by states and the new admissions metric in the public hospitalization data set from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
bit.ly/3maY1aU
8/8 We won’t likely see actual case increases from Thanksgiving exposures until the second week of December, and then succeeding waves of infections from holiday gatherings will roll in for weeks.
bit.ly/366Pm40

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More from @TexasTribune

21 Nov
Texas GOP Chairman Allen West stopped short of saying Ken Paxton should resign as he faces criminal accusations.

But West added: "It would be really good to have an Attorney General’s office that is not concerned about their own personal legal matters."
wfaa.com/article/news/p…
According to the @AP, the FBI is reportedly investigating Ken Paxton over allegations made by eight of Paxton’s former top aides that he illegally used the power of his office to benefit a political donor. bit.ly/392G8Y6
Allen West has been stirring intraparty tensions in his first few months as the Texas GOP chairman.

Critics say he is misusing the job to make a name for himself.

West says he is giving a voice to Republicans — and helping more get elected. bit.ly/3lUE4F9
Read 4 tweets
18 Nov
.@ap: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to stop expelling immigrant children who cross the southern border alone, halting a policy that has sent thousands of minors back to danger without any of the usual protections required by law.
apnews.com/article/pandem…
According to @ap, the Trump administration has expelled at least 8,800 unaccompanied children since March, when it issued an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus as grounds for barring most people crossing the border from remaining in the U.S. apnews.com/article/pandem…
We reported with @propublica in August that children were being sent back to danger with no access to social workers or lawyers, not even their family, while in U.S. custody. bit.ly/36MCRcX
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16 Nov
1/ There are nearly 10x as many hospitalized COVID-19 patients in El Paso as there were in September.

Incarcerated Texans have been conscripted to handle bodies at the morgue.

And the state is blocking a local shutdown order meant to slow the spread. bit.ly/2IKrn1k
2/ County Judge Ricardo Samaniego issued a shutdown order for nonessential businesses in this far West Texas county on Oct. 29.

Total coronavirus cases in El Paso, measured since the pandemic began, surpassed 70,000 Friday. bit.ly/3pAQCDW
3/ A group of local restaurants and Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to block the move, arguing that it went beyond Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order that outlines what limits can be placed on private businesses across the state. bit.ly/35AMNqs
Read 6 tweets
16 Nov
1/ Four states voted to legalize marijuana in the most recent election. Now, Texas lawmakers are filing a slew of bills to loosen restrictions around the drug.

Here’s what you need to know.
2/ On Monday, the first day of bill filing for Texas’ upcoming legislative session, @Menendez4Texas filed a bill that would expand the state’s medical marijuana program and lower fees associated with operating a dispensary, among other things. #txlege bit.ly/38IGOBY
3/ Throughout last week, state lawmakers introduced 11 measures that could potentially loosen legal restrictions on the drug — and there are still two months to go before the session begins in January. From @HoustonChron: bit.ly/3lDg5u3
Read 13 tweets
11 Nov
1/ You may have seen headlines in recent days that say Texas has surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases.

But our coronavirus case tracker has the state at 974,230 cases.

Here’s why there’s a discrepancy.

bit.ly/35f7OXA
2/ We are using state data, which is also reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It does not include "probable cases" in its total case count.

Probable cases come from antigen tests taken by nasal or throat swabs. bit.ly/35f7OXA
3/ Texas tracks antigen tests in a separate dashboard, which you can find here.

More than 35,000 positive antigen tests have been reported.

txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashbo…
Read 6 tweets
10 Nov
1/ As president, Joe Biden can immediately halt some of Trump’s policies, but that doesn’t mean in itself that border wall construction stops. bit.ly/3pib10D
2/ Upon taking office in January, President-elect Joe Biden can immediately end Trump’s 2019 emergency declaration that allowed him to transfer billions from the Department of Defense to finance the border wall. bit.ly/3pib10D
3/ But it’s unclear what would become of the funds that have already been transferred but haven’t been used.

“Ending the transfer of funds doesn’t mean in itself that wall construction stops.” Image
Read 5 tweets

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