What you need to know Monday:
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No consensus on whether El Paso is ready to reopen
Gov. Greg Abbott had given El Paso County and the Amarillo area — two of the state's biggest recent COVID-19 hot spots — a temporary reprieve from implementing Texas' next phase of reopening. That reprieve was set to last until last Friday, both areas were required to implement the newest phase of reopening that took effect in the rest of the state the previous week.
While Abbott said the Amarillo area had "turned a corner," the picture in the El Paso area wasn't as clear. County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said officials have made good progress in increasing testing for the new coronavirus amid a surge in new cases this month. But he said he hadn’t seen enough improvement to be sure the county is ready for the expanded opening. El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, on the other hand, said the situation in El Paso is more manageable now. A spokesman for Abbott echoed that optimism, citing a decline in the infection rate and stability with hospital capacity — Julián Aguilar
Texas reports 64,287 cases and 1,672 deaths
Texas officials will release their latest total of people who have tested positive for the new coronavirus on Monday. Texas reported 1,949 more cases of the new coronavirus Sunday — the highest increase since the state began reporting coronavirus case counts.
Almost every county in Texas has reported at least one confirmed case of the virus. Harris County has reported the most cases, 12,220, followed by Dallas County, which has reported 10,006 cases. The Tribune publishes maps of the latest case numbers for each county and case rates per 1,000 residents.
The state has reported 24 additional deaths, bringing the statewide total to 1,672. Harris County reported three additional deaths Sunday, bringing its total to 231 deaths, more than any other county.
As of Sunday, 1,684 patients are known to be hospitalized in Texas. That’s a decrease of 68 patients from Saturday. — Mandi Cai
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Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster for all of Texas on Sunday, saying the declaration would allow him to designate federal agents to serve as peace officers in Texas.
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Texans protested in Austin, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth on Friday and Saturday , spurred by the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed Monday in Minneapolis police custody. Floyd had been a longtime resident of Houston's Third Ward .
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Sara Sullivan is worried that voting in person could put her grandmother at risk of contracting coronavirus. Sullivan wishes every Texan who wanted a mail-in ballot could get one, especially during the pandemic. Listen to her story in the weekend edition of The Brief podcast.
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Engage Texas, a GOP voter registration group, has shut down. The super PAC had raised nearly $13 million and hired hundreds of staffers, but it did not see a path forward as the coronavirus pandemic persisted .