DALLAS – Bars in the Dallas-Fort Worth area Thursday are ordered to close and other businesses are ordered to reduce their capacities as the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations continue to rise.
KXAS-TV, an NBC affiliate, reported that Thursday marked the seventh straight day that COVID-19 patients in hospitals was greater than 15%.
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That mark is important because it triggers stricter provisions of the Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order GA-32, which was issued in October.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a tweet that once the county’s numbers are updated Thursday, the region will immediately be subject to decreased capacities at all non-essential businesses and other protocols laid out in Abbott’s order.
Today is the 7th day our region has been above the 15% of all available beds occupied by COVID19 patients threshold. Pursuant to @GovAbbott GA-32, once today’s numbers are updated on the @TexasDSHS website (tonight) our region will be subject immediately to a decrease....
— Clay Jenkins (@JudgeClayJ) December 3, 2020
Harris County, the county in which Houston is located, is in Trauma Service Area Q. According to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services, TSA Q has a coronavirus hospitalization rate of 10.36% as of Thursday. That is the highest it has been in the past seven days.