HOUSTON — Brazos County joins a long list of counties in Texas that will have to rollback reopening plans as COVID-19 hospitalization rates in those areas continue to climb.
It joins Brazoria, Galveston, Chambers and Liberty Counties among others forced to do the same in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Restaurants across Texas continue to struggle as the coronavirus crisis rages on and are affected by the modification in reopening guidelines.
“A lot of restaurants can’t get much above beyond 50 percent capacity as it is just due to the reopening protocols needed for social distancing etc. inside of their dining rooms,” Joseph Monastero, chief strategy and operations officer for the Texas Restaurant Association, said.
However, some of those operating at 75 percent may have to dial back as hospitalizations climb.
The state is broken up into Trauma Service Areas.
If a particular area’s COVID hospitalization rate climbs to more than 15 percent for seven straight days, under Gov. Abbott’s executive order bars would have to shut down immediately except for drive-thru and capacity at businesses like restaurants would have to be reduced.
“God bless that we’re in Texas and that we’re at least open in room dining and at 75 percent or 50 percent depending on where you are in those trauma service regions,” Monastero said.
Trauma Service Areas are made up of multiple counties.
Monastero said just because an area goes above the 15 percent COVID hospitalization rate threshold it doesn’t mean a rollback of reopening guidelines will impact everyone.
"If a county itself has their own hospitals at less than 15 percent they have the opportunity to go to DSHS, file what’s called an attestation, and that county can remain at 75 percent for its businesses and for its restaurants’ capacity,” Monastero said.
In Harris County, COVID hospitalization rates climbed above 15 percent for the third straight day on Monday:
- Dec. 24 - 12.84%
- Dec. 25 - 14.22%
- Dec. 26 - 16.45%
- Dec. 27 - 15.15%
- Dec. 28 - 20.99%
“It is one of those things where you prepare for but there’s no action to be taken until we hit day 7. So I urge everyone to remember we’re not there yet. Let’s get there first,” Monastero said.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is in charge of monitoring businesses to make sure they’re following rollback guidelines.