TEXAS COVID BACKLOGS - Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the issues that led to a state backlog of COVID-19 cases have been resolved. The Texas Department of State Health Services has been informing local officials about thousands of previously unreported positive cases. Abbott said there were several reasons the data was delayed.
"One is that the capabilities of the Department of State Health Services were limited to accepting no more than 45,000 test cases per day," explained Abbott. "They have worked with a team to make sure that was increased 4 or 5 fold."
Abbott added he expects more backlogged cases to be reported over the next few days.
TEXAS FOOTBALL COVID CONCERNS - The Austin-Travis County Health Authority is urging the University of Texas to reconsider its plan to host football games at 25 percent stadium capacity starting next month. Doctor Mark Escott says the season should kick off with ONLY the teams and then gradually introduce fans after proving the games aren't spreading COVID-19.
"Packing 25 thousand people even into a 100 thousand seat stadium introduces a lot of risk," Escott explained. "Not only to the people who are there but to the community as well."
The Longhorn's home opener against the University of Texas at El Paso is set for September 12th
