Dallas County Schools Won’t Be Returning Until After Labor Day. The governor gave local health authorities the power to delay in-person schooling until at least September 8. Yesterday, Dr. Philip Huang, the head of Dallas County Health and Human Services, announced he would be taking up the governor on his offer. That means all public and private schools are prohibited from welcoming students back to campus in any form until that day. They can start virtually, but they can’t come in. Teacher and administrators can work from their classrooms if they wear masks. Let’s hope we get this thing under better control by then. Meanwhile, here’s how Dallas ISD is preparing for an eventual reopening.
Another 16 People Died From Coronavirus. The county’s 7-day weeks end on Saturday, and it’s looking like this week will be our deadliest. It would need to surpass last week’s 54 deaths, and we’re already at 52. So far, 501 Dallas County residents have died from COVID-19. This is, perhaps, to be expected. With a rise in cases that we’ve seen—now 14 straight days of 1,000 or more new daily cases—deaths lag behind as the severity of the infection progresses.
Meanwhile, Gov. Abbott Insists No Shutdown. He’s waffled on this a bit in the last week or so, going on radio stations and threatening it if we don’t improve our caseload and hospitalizations. But he’s now saying his recent order that closes bars and requires face coverings is doing the trick. Let’s hope so.
