Coronavirus in Texas

Distillery, winery and some restaurant owners say their businesses are different from traditional bars, which Abbott closed after COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations began to climb in June. Full Story 

Conflicting mandates pingponging between state and local officials are frustrating many parents, students and teachers trying to plan for a fall semester during a raging pandemic. Full Story 

Up to 15,000 test kits will be available per month across its 11 universities. The system has set aside $16 million to pay for the testing program. Full Story 

Julián Castro said Abbott made three consequential mistakes: reopening the state too early, not pushing hard enough to get adequate testing or contact tracing, and banning local officials from requiring masks in the earlier months of the pandemic. Full Story 

School districts won't lose state funding if they stick with virtual classes this fall because a local health authority has mandated that classrooms remain closed. Full Story 

Schools had previously been told that they would need to limit online-only instruction to the first three weeks of the school year, or they'd lose state funding. Full Story 

The pandemic-driven economic downturn has left more than 5.4 million Americans with no job and no insurance. Texas has one of the largest shares of this increase. Full Story 

Two sisters fled Guatemala six years apart. The older sister received asylum and settled in California. The younger one was denied and is now fighting COVID-19 in an El Paso detention center. Full Story 

The repeal follows outspoken criticism from universities, legal experts and higher education advocates, who deemed the rules unfairly punitive for foreign students. Full Story 

Many Texas hospitals are no longer accepting transfer patients in order to maintain space for a surge that’s expected to come. In some parts of the state, it’s already here. Full Story 

At one prison, more than 750 inmates were actively infected with the coronavirus Monday, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Full Story 

An executive committee vote late Monday capped a weekslong whirlwind of controversy and legal battles over the party's initial plans for an in-person event. Full Story 

Disabled and older voters have encountered the most problems navigating mail-in balloting as they try to avoid going to polling places. In-person voting has been generally smooth so far in the low-turnout runoffs. Full Story 

The governor is increasing restrictions as the coronavirus worsens in Texas, and is beset by trolls from inside his own party for doing so. But for the first time in this pandemic, he's ignoring them. Full Story 

When pharmacist Frank Arredondo was wheeled on a stretcher into a South Texas ward for coronavirus patients in early April, his wife wondered if they would ever see each other again. Full Story 

The coronavirus pandemic has proved a leadership test like no other for the second-term governor. He holds nearly all power over the state’s response as it careens toward crisis. Full Story 

Chris Bergeron is one of more than 30 bar owners suing Gov. Greg Abbott for an executive order that effectively shuttered bars. Listen to what Bergeron had to say about the order's impact in the weekend edition of The Brief podcast. Full Story 

More than 3,000 Texans have died from the coronavirus and counties are preparing for even more deaths by expanding their capacities to store bodies. Full Story 

Abbott has repeated that warning multiple times in local television interviews this week. Full Story 

The busiest hospitals in Houston are increasingly telling emergency responders they cannot safely accept new patients as hundreds of coronavirus patients crowd emergency rooms, and hospitals scramble to open more intensive care space. Full Story