Despite second wave, Texas Governor refuses to lockdown state again

The state of Texas won't undergo any new lockdowns, despite numbers rising higher and higher again, according to officials.

Rajesh Nandy from the University of North Texas Health Science Center said, "The numbers are quite alarming, to be honest, because it's not showing any sign of slowing down. It seems like at this point, there’s not a lot of will, even among people, for a full-scale stay-at-home [order] like [Abbott] did in March because, of course, it has other consequences."

According to local ABC affiliate WFAA, Texas's daily numbers for new cases are up to where they were at their highest previously during this past summer. In fact, on Tuesday, 10,826 new cases were reported, which is a new record for the state, beating the previous 10,791 reported back in July of this year.

Also, the rate of people testing positive has been over 10 percent for more than three weeks now, which was a benchmark famously used previously by Texas Governor Gregg Abbott when he enacted restrictive measures, such as a mask order, which is still in effect as of today.

Abbott spoke to the media this past Thursday and Friday, stating that the current plan in place will be enough to help slow the spread of the virus. Under this plan, if the number of coronavirus patients amounts to more than 15 percent of total hospital capacity for a week or more in a given area, further occupancy restrictions will come into effect.

As part of the plan, the state of Texas is planning to distribute quantities of the new drugs, Bamlanivimab and Regeneron, to hospitals throughout the street in order to provide more effective treatment to patients who are sick from the coronavirus.