Virus deaths hit new high in Texas as governor urges masks

https://news.yahoo.com/virus-deaths-hit-high-texas-231435634.html

PAUL J. WEBER and JUAN A. LOZANO
,Associated Press•July 15, 2020

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Two weeks after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered most of the state's 30 million residents to wear masks, Texas is still scrambling to contain one of the biggest coronavirus surges in the U.S., and Abbott is stressing that the widespread use of face coverings could avoid another lockdown —- one he hasn’t ruled out. On Wednesday, Texas again set a new high with nearly 10,800 new cases, along with a record 110 deaths.

The rising toll includes 35 deaths that officials on the Texas-Mexico border said happened Wednesday morning alone in Hidalgo County. That was more than twice the number of new deaths reported in Harris County — which has five times the population — and where Texas' largest school district decided that Houston public schools would not only postpone the first day of class but conduct the first six weeks of learning online.

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Although it remains too early to tell the impact since Texas' mask order was announced before the Fourth of July weekend, other former holdouts to requiring face coverings continued relenting Wednesday. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama announced a statewide mask order just a few weeks after saying enforcing one would be “next to impossible."

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