Tag Archives: quarantine

A thousand days of the COVID disaster declaration

Happy COVID Disaster Declaration Thousand-Day Anniversary to all who celebrate. Thursday marks 1,000 days that Texans have been living under Gov. Greg Abbott’s public health disaster proclamation — an era of unprecedented gubernatorial authority for the state’s chief executive, triggered … Continue reading

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Math test scores took a hit during the pandemic

The decline started before the pandemic, but kept on going from there. Students in Houston and across the nation showed “appalling and unacceptable” declines on the 2022 Nation’s Report Card, adding to mounting evidence that the pandemic impacted young people … Continue reading

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William-Paul Thomas

This is bad. The question is how much worse might it be. William-Paul Thomas, the mayor’s council liaison, was offered more than $13,000 by a local bar owner to help him pass a building inspection and fast-track a new permit … Continue reading

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City Council to return to in-person meetings

I feel like I should always append a “For now” onto commentary about things like this. You know, for all the obvious reasons. Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday he wants all City Council members to return to the chamber next … Continue reading

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Back to school, kids

It’ll probably be fine. And honestly, there’s no appetite for anything else. Most of Texas’ roughly 1,200 school districts will welcome students and staff back within the next week, even as other states debate whether to mandate vaccines for teachers … Continue reading

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Got to keep an eye on the hospitalizations

They’re up, but for now we’re still in reasonably decent shape. More than 1,200 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in the Houston area on Monday, according to data released by the state Tuesday afternoon. The Department of State Health Services … Continue reading

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COVID puts NHL on pause

A bit of an ominous throwback. The NHL is beginning a leaguewide shutdown Wednesday amid a rise in positive COVID-19 test results among players, and with 10 of the league’s 32 teams’ schedules already paused and their facilities closed. The … Continue reading

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Back to threat level orange

Thanks, omicron. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo raised Harris County’s COVID-19 threat level to “significant” Monday, as the number of infections rise sharply, sparked by the spread of the omicron variant. “Level 2: Orange,” is the second-highest threat level in … Continue reading

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Endorsement watch: Vote No on Prop 3

Yes, there are Constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall. Most of them are pretty innocuous, but one of them is not, and you should vote No on it. Proposition 3, on this year’s ballot, would enact a constitutional amendment … Continue reading

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Looking for the missing students

More important than usual this year. The state’s largest school district recorded a first-day enrollment of 172,091 students, a significant decrease compared with previous years. It is not uncommon for enrollment to lag, even to its lowest point of the … Continue reading

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Back to Code Red

Pretty much inevitable at this point. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Thursday returned the county to the highest COVID-19 threat level and urged unvaccinated residents to stay home and avoid unnecessary contact with others. At a news conference, Hidalgo … Continue reading

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We’re #2!

More people have died of COVID in Texas than any other state except California, as Texas surpasses New York’s total. Texas has passed New York to become the state with the second-most COVID-19 deaths, a feat experts say was driven … Continue reading

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The fourth wave

We’re not ready. One local hospital is reinstating visitor limits and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is mulling a change to the county’s threat level amid a wave of COVID-19 variant cases that medical leaders warned Tuesday could overwhelm area … Continue reading

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Abbott affirms he will take no action to mitigate future COVID waves

He’s on brand, that much is for sure. Gov. Greg Abbott says he will not impose another statewide mask mandate, despite COVID-19 cases being on the rise again. “There will be no mask mandate imposed, and the reasons for that … Continue reading

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Our Delta future

Don’t expect anything to change, except for the number of people getting sick and dying. The new and highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus may have sparked the recent outbreak of 125-plus cases of COVID-19 linked to a Houston-area … Continue reading

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And the STAAR results ain’t great either

Oof. The COVID-19 pandemic appeared to undo years of improvement for Texas students meeting grade requirements in reading and math, with students who did most of their schooling remotely suffering “significant declines” compared to those who attended in person, according … Continue reading

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The pandemic was hard on math

Math scores on the end-of-course algebra exams, in particular. Texas’ first trove of 2021 state standardized test scores offers early confirmation of what many educators feared: students fell dramatically behind in math during the coronavirus pandemic. Results from spring algebra … Continue reading

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HISD asks for virtual learning funds do-over

I can understand this. Thirty school districts, including Houston ISD, and two associations signed a letter to urge Gov. Greg Abbott to add legislation funding virtual learning to any special session for other proposed laws. A bill that would have ensured districts … Continue reading

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What was the effect of Texas’ early re-opening?

Here’s a new study by a trio of economic researchers that attempts to answer questions about the behavioral, public health, and economic effects of Greg Abbott ending the statewide mask mandate and all restrictions on how businesses can operate, all … Continue reading

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No limits imposed on Governor’s powers in an emergency

So much for that. The state Legislature won’t curtail Gov. Greg Abbott’s pandemic powers, after members of the House and the Senate failed to hash out their differences over it. The measure, House Bill 3, was priority legislation in the … Continue reading

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Threat level down again

Nice. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Friday downgraded the county to the yellow COVID-19 threat level, citing improving metrics for the virus here coupled with increasing vaccinations. “This is an important and encouraging, but still fragile, milestone in our … Continue reading

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Threat level down

Been waiting for this for some time. Harris County finally will downgrade from its highest COVID-19 threat level, County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Monday evening, after 47 weeks of urging residents to stay home. Hidalgo said the effectiveness of the … Continue reading

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Reopening schools and the COVID rate

Reopening schools led to more COVID cases. I mean, this is not a surprise, right? When Texas schools returned to in-person education last fall, the spread of the coronavirus “gradually but substantially accelerated,” leading to at least 43,000 additional cases … Continue reading

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House passes its bill to limit Governor’s emergency powers

Not sure if this is going to make it through the Senate. The Texas House on Monday gave preliminary approval to a sweeping bill that would reform the governor’s emergency powers during a pandemic and involve the Legislature during such … Continue reading

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Trib polling roundup, part 1

On COVID and vaccinations. Texas voters are feeling safer about being out in public, and better about getting COVID-19 vaccines, but a majority of the state’s voters still consider the coronavirus a “significant crisis,” according to a new University of … Continue reading

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The Hobby poll on ending COVID restrictions

A little while ago I blogged about the recent UH Hobby Center poll regarding the winter freeze and blackouts and responses to them. At the time I mentioned the poll had a separate section about Greg Abbott lifting the COVID … Continue reading

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Whither downtown?

Nobody really knows when or if Houston’s downtown will return to something like it was pre-COVID. Few areas of the local economy were hit as hard by the pandemic as downtown and few face as much uncertainty as the service … Continue reading

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Should Harris County lower its threat level?

Maybe? According to Harris County’s COVID-19 guidance, residents should avoid all unnecessary contact with others. They should not go to bars or barbecues or ballgames. They should work from home if possible and leave only for errands, such as groceries … Continue reading

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First attempt to redefine the governor’s powers in an emergency

I’m still conflicted about this. The Texas Senate backed a potential constitutional amendment Tuesday that would substantially rein in the power of the governor during emergencies like this past year’s coronavirus pandemic. Texas voters would have to approve the amendment … Continue reading

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Is there really a primary threat to Abbott?

Maybe, but it’s not a serious one. As Gov. Greg Abbott races to reopen all businesses and end mask mandates this week, it hasn’t been fast enough to defuse escalating political pressure from fellow Republicans who see Texas lagging behind … Continue reading

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What to expect when you’re fully vaccinated

The CDC has released some guidance that will help people understand what is safe to do and what precautions they will still need to take once they are fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors … Continue reading

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Abbott lifts statewide mask mandate

Unbelievable. Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that he is ending Texas’ statewide mask mandate next week and will allow all businesses to operate at full capacity. “It is now time to open Texas 100%,” Abbott said from a Mexican restaurant … Continue reading

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Here’s the TDP 2020 after action report

Reasonably informative, though nothing here that I found terribly surprising. Texas Democrats have come to the conclusion that they fell short of their expectations in the 2020 election largely because Republicans beat them in the battle to turn out voters, … Continue reading

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MLB deadens its balls

Wait, that sounds wrong. Major League Baseball has slightly deadened its baseballs amid a years-long surge in home runs, a source confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday. MLB anticipates the changes will be subtle, and a memo to teams … Continue reading

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