With new coronavirus cases surging in Texas and Florida, officials in both states on Friday ordered bars to close again and imposed tighter restrictions on restaurants, setting back efforts to reopen their economies.
Governor Greg Abbott gave bars in Texas until midday Friday to shut, while Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation told bars to immediately stop serving alcohol on their premises.
The attempts by Texas, Florida, South Carolina and other states at a more complete economic reopening have boomeranged in a resurgence of cases that is changing the nature of the pandemic and likely to test the strength of any broader economic rebound in the United States.Texas had been at the forefront of states peeling away restrictions designed to control the pandemic. It allowed bars to reopen in May, when revelers flouting social distancing rules celebrated Memorial Day weekend.
Despite the grim news from Texas and Florida, Vice President Mike Pence sounded a note of optimism at the first U.S. coronavirus task force briefing in months. Cuomo, a Democrat, told a briefing that states that followed guidance from the White House are now seeing a spike in cases, arguing that New York curbed the outbreak by taking what he called a scientific, rather than a political, approach.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Coronavirus live updates: Texas and Florida pause reopening more business as cases surgeDemand has surged for dexamethasone, which has been hailed as a potential “breakthrough” in the treatment of patients with severe coronavirus cases. MegTirrell reports.
Read more »
Wave of coronavirus threatens to swamp hospitals in Texas, Florida and other statesSkyrocketing coronavirus case levels threaten to overload medical systems in Texas, Florida and other states seeing new infection waves.
Read more »
Coronavirus updates: New US cases hit single-day record; Texas, Florida are closing bars amid surgeThe U.S. hit a new single-day record. Texas is closing bars amid the surge in cases. The Trump administration is considering a new approach to testing, reports say.
Read more »
Texas, Florida governors order bars closed, imposes new restrictions as cases surgeTexas and Florida are among around a dozen other states that have hit the brakes on reopening their economies amid a resurgence of the coronavirus across the South and West affecting more than half of the states in the country
Read more »
Graphic: COVID-19 case counts in Florida and Texas are surgingCoronavirus cases in Florida and Texas are surging. Track the day-by-day numbers in these states.
Read more »