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 But a top adviser to Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden's
campaign in Texas blasted Abbott, a Republican, for what he called a
lack of planning and funding for safely reopening schools, with the
statewide coronavirus positivity rate hitting a record 24.5% this
week.
"What we learned from the reopening of the Texas economy is that if
you don't do it right, people are going to die," said Mike Collier,
senior adviser to the Biden campaign in Texas. "Parents and teachers
are being forced to make life and death decisions."
Polls show Biden in a dead heat with President Donald Trump in
Texas, long a Republican stronghold but where the Democratic Party
made significant gains in the 2018 midterm election. How Abbott
handles the pandemic and the reopening of schools could have a big
impact on how voters cast ballots in November.
Abbott defended his mandate giving local school boards the right to
determine if and when schools reopen, curbing the power of local
health officials to intervene and order schools closed if COVID-19
outbreaks occur.
The Texas governor said schools are ready and argued that in-person
classes would not be a significant spreader of the virus if schools
follow basic safety precautions.
"The ways that COVID-19 will most likely spread in the school
setting is in gatherings after school is over," Abbott told a press
conference in Lubbock.
Abbott said people are spreading the virus in smaller, informal
gatherings with friends and family. He encouraged parents and
teachers to curtail gatherings of students.
He urged all Texans to remain vigilant on safety precautions as
Labor Day weekend approaches. "It's important people don't let their
guard down like they did during Memorial Day weekend," which he said
was a "big spreading" event in the state.
LEAVE IT TO LOCALS
While Texas moves ahead with in-person classes, a group of parents
and Republicans in California have gone to court seeking a reversal
of Governor Gavin Newsom's order that schools in counties on the
coronavirus "watch list" - which encompasses 90% of the state's
population - stay shuttered this fall.
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"What we're seeking in the lawsuit is that the governor get out of the way and
let local parents, local school boards and small schools make these decisions
themselves," Harmeet Dhillon, Republican National Committee member from
California and lawyer who brought the lawsuit, told a virtual press conference
on Thursday.
Marianne Bema, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who lives in Los Angeles with her
three school-aged sons, said online learning in spring was disastrous for her
children, and she does not make enough money to afford daycare if her children
are not in school.
Another plaintiff, Christine Ruiz of Santa Clarita, who also has three
school-aged kids, said she was pleased with a hybrid model mixing in-person and
online instruction their school originally had planned to roll out.
"Now that choice has been taken away from us," Ruiz said.
APPS, BATTLE ON MASKS
North Dakota, Wyoming and Alabama are the latest U.S. states launching apps to
warn users about potential exposure to the novel coronavirus by tracking their
encounters, representatives for the states told Reuters on Thursday.
Virginia last week became the first U.S. state to urge residents to download
such an app using technology developed by smartphone software giants Apple Inc <AAPL.O>
and Alphabet Inc's <GOOGL.O> Google.
In Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp said on Thursday he plans to drop a lawsuit
against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the city, possibly ending a
months-long feud over an order for people to wear masks to stop the spread of
COVID-19.
Kemp had sued Bottoms and the city of Atlanta to stop enforcement of a local
mask mandate arguing the city lacks the authority to override his order
encouraging but not requiring face coverings.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Makini Brice in Washington, D.C., Rich
McKay in Atlanta and Paresh Dave in Oakland; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Daniel
Wallis)
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