With businesses open and daily interactions increasing, experts believe cases will continue to rise and the data will reflect that. "In terms of new infections, we are seeing a surge ... in part attributed to activities surrounding Memorial Day weekend, such as gatherings where protective behaviors may have been lax," said Rebecca Fischer, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health. According to Fischer, it takes about nine to 16 days to see an increase and, on average, an additional five to seven to see hospital data.
In addition to increased social activities and the state reopening, protests across the state are predicted to contribute to an increase in COVID-19 cases. “I’m concerned but not yet alarmed,” Abbott told Dallas television station KTVT Tuesday. “I look at Amarillo that was a hot spot zone a couple of weeks ago, where they had a lot of concerns. We had surge response teams that addressed it, and now their hospitalizations are going down.” He added that everything is “largely contained” and he hopes to avoid a spike following protests.
Former Texas public health official David Lakey said it’s no surprise numbers are going up given that people are no longer following “basic precautions” including wearing a mask. He said several factors contribute to an increase, including travel and protests.
According to data compiled by The New York Times, as of Wednesday, June 10, there have been more than 81,000 cases of coronavirus in Texas and at least 1,913 deaths as a result of COVID-19.
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