Trump Tweets That DART Will Receive $229 Million. The president confirmed yesterday that the transit system would be receiving the CARES Act relief to help fund PPE and operating costs after DART’s primary funding source, sales tax, took a significant hit.
VisitDallas Continues to Try to Justify Its Existence to City Council. Craig Davis, the new CEO, says they have cut $2 million in programming and $2.5 million in personnel costs, eliminating a total of 36 positions and furloughing an additional 13. But council members still had concerns about excessive salaries and want to cut $40 million from the budget. The convention center is looking at close to $48 million in lost revenue this year, and city hotels are currently experiencing only a 1 to 3 percent occupancy rate.
Dallas County Will Release More Data as Testing Increases. Yesterday, County Judge Clay Jenkins and health department director Dr. Philip Huang told the editorial board at The Dallas Morning News that, similar to what the city of Dallas has been doing, the county will start publishing information about hospital admissions and bed capacity, going beyond previous limited reports on deaths and new cases. Jenkins reemphasized that the Dallas County risk level is still red, and advised that people should continue to stay home as much as possible.
Frisco Company Lands $295 Million Contract for COVID-19 Contact Tracing. Senators are skeptical that MTX Group is up for the job. The plan is for the company to create a virtual call center by the end of the month, and to eventually hire 1,000 contact tracers.
Free Mobile Testing Expanded City-Wide. The service was initially only available to residents of select southern Dallas zip codes. But Mayor Eric Johnson announced yesterday that it is now available to any city resident who has symptoms or has been exposed but can’t get to one of the city’s drive-through testing sites.
