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Urgent Updates
Is my city in “an area with high hospitalizations” so that
restaurants, gyms, libraries, and other establishments can’t open up to 75
percent of the listed occupancy?
Pursuant to GA-30, the governor authorized the following
establishments to re-open to 75 percent occupancy, up from 50 percent, so
long as the establishment is not located in “an area with high
hospitalizations”:
1. in-store,
non-CISA retail establishments;
2. dine-in
restaurants, defined as “[o]nly restaurants that have less than 51 percent of
their gross receipts from the sale of alcoholic beverages, and whose
customers eat or drink only while seated.”
3. non-CISA
office buildings;
4. non-CISA
manufacturers;
5. museums and
libraries; and
6. gyms and
exercise facilities and classes.
The governor’s office characterizes “an area with high
hospitalizations” as a Trauma Service Area in which the percentage of
hospitalizations due to COVID-19 exceeds 15 percent for seven consecutive
days. Once that happens, a Trauma Service area cannot lose its
high-hospitalization designation until it experiences seven consecutive days
in which the COVID-19 hospitalization rate is 15 percent or less.
At the moment, four Trauma Service Areas (out of 22 total
Trauma Service Areas) are designated as having high hospitalizations, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Those four regions are:
1. Trauma
Service Area M (Waco area);
2. Trauma
Service Area S (Victoria area);
3. Trauma
Service Region T (Laredo area); and
4. Trauma
Service Region V (Lower Rio Grande Valley area).
The establishments listed above may only open to 50 percent
occupancy in these four regions, while the same establishments in every other
region of the state may open to 75 percent occupancy. Additionally, pursuant
to GA-31, elective surgeries are postponed in hospitals
within these four regions.
Interested city officials can access up-to-date data on the
hospitalization rate within their Trauma Service Area here (first click on “Combined Hospital Data over Time by
Trauma Service Area (TSA)” and then, within the Excel Spreadsheet, select
“COVID Hospitalizations (%)”).
Further Updates
Where can I access a summary of the key topics you’ve covered
in these Updates?
TML staff launched these Coronavirus Updates in mid-March when
our cities started feeling the effects of COVID-19. We know it’s hard to
digest it all, so we’re offering a comprehensive update at the TML Virtual
Annual Conference and Exhibition on October 14 at 1:30 p.m. Scott
Houston, TML Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel, will lead the
discussion, and will be joined by Assistant General Counsels Christy
Drake-Adams, Amber McKeon-Mueller, and Evelyn Njuguna.
Register here to hear this presentation and view more
than 30 other TML Annual Conference sessions related to recovery and
resilience. The deadline for early conference registration is Thursday,
October 1.
Where can I find archived issues of the TML Coronavirus Updates?
TML Coronavirus Updates are archived by date here and by subject here.
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