Coronavirus Cases And Deaths Jump In Texas As State Reopens

On Thursday, Texas reported 50 confirmed coronavirus deaths, the most Texans to tie in a single day since the first confirmed death in mid-March.

It’s part of the deadliest three-day stretch the state has counted yet, with a combined death toll of 119, according to the Associated Press.

Another 1,033 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Thursday, the state’s largest daily count since April 10, and the third-highest daily total overall.

Gov. Greg Abbott defended his decision to allow businesses to reopen, telling The Texas Tribune after Thursday’s tallies were released that the state’s infection rate and hospitalization rate have shown downward trends since a peak during the first two weeks of April.

But Catherine Troisi, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas, told The Texas Tribune that the state has not tested for coronavirus widely enough to be optimistic about the recorded infection rate, and said more tests need to be done.

Texas has only performed about 330,300 coronavirus tests—with a population of nearly 30 million, it’s one of the states with the fewest tests per capita—but Abbott said Thursday he was still gunning to get Texas to a point of performing at least 25,000 tests per day.