Amarillo – Texas Governor Greg Abbott was in Amarillo Wednesday to address the high rate of COVID-19 cases in the region.
In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, he stated his belief that Amarillo has turned the corner. He attributed the high rate of COVID-19 cases in Amarillo to the increase of people testing positive in nursing homes, meat packing plants and jails and prisons.
From May 13-25, Abbott said the number of people tested in Amarillo doubled, which helped lead to the spike.
Since then, Abbott said numbers have since trickled down to “zero people who tested positive (on Tuesday)."
“You see an early spike, for the number of people testing positive and then you see a slow decline in those testing positive," said Abbott. "That demonstrates that the hot spot area has been contained.”
Abbott said Amarillo is an example of how Texas is going about the process of responding to COVID-19 at this particular stage.
He said the good news is that the fatality rate and “positivity rate” remains low, just like the rest of the state.
Texas is at a 5% positivity rate, which is an improvement from about 13% in April.
Abbott also said that while Texans are suffering from the coronavirus, there are many more who are suffering economically.
“It’s our job to create a structure to enable Texans to get back to work, while coexisting with COVID-19,” said Abbott. “As we are in this transition period, until we get to that moment in time, just a few months from now, when there will be medications available to treat people who do test positive for COVID-19.”
The governor also citing that the numbers show that the state has adequately contained the spread of COVID-19 and that Texas has the lowest death rate in the United States.
