Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner at his daily coronavirus update Wednesday said there is no unilateral plan to reopen the city.
He said he and other elected officials are all anxious to get started as long as it is done in a safe and judicious manner.
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According to Turner, some of the factors that go into deciding when the city can reopen are widespread testing, making sure there are necessary PPEs and that the hospital infrastructure can handle a possible resurgence of cases.
“I don’t think anyone is saying that all of a sudden Monday for example that it’s going to be business as usual,” Turner said. “I don’t think the governor is saying that. Certainly I am not saying that. My plan is a part of everyone’s plan, so I don’t have a particular plan (to reopen).”
Turner said his number one job is to protect the health and safety of the people of Houston, and they are going to do whatever it calls for to make sure Houstonians are protected.
Delays in testing
According to Dr. David Persse with the Houston Health Department, new supplies came in from the federal government last week that changed the way people were tested. Now, instead of someone else swabbing their nose, people are being asked to swab themselves, but they are having a hard time understanding how to do it, so that is causing some backup at testing sites, Persse said.
Nurses who had previously been doing the testing were called back to work, so the state government sent people who could do the testing, but they had to be trained, Persse said.
Persse said they are working to iron out the kinks and get the testing sites running smoothly.