LUBBOCK, Texas – As of February 27, there are 10 patients with the novel coronavirus — also known as COVID-19 — in the state of Texas and they are all in isolation.
Governor Greg Abbott said he has a plan in place so the whole state will be prepared with the Texas Department of State Health Services as the lead agency.
“DSHS leads daily calls with public health authorities and healthcare providers to ensure communication is flowing from the state to local providers, to ensure that our local communities and schools are equipped with the information necessary to mitigate the spread of this virus,” Abbott said.
Abbott said they are expanding on the state’s previous responses to infectious disease emergencies like the Swine Flu and Ebola.
“There’s a tremendous amount of work that all the state agencies, the state health leaders, and emergency response leaders have put in for well over a month now to be extremely well organized, but they did not start for the beginning, a month ago, they build upon knowledge gained,” he said.
RELATED STORY: The first case of Coronavirus or COVID-19 confirmed in Texas, Lubbock officials prepare
Starting next week, meetings will be held at the state operations center in Austin bi-weekly.
“This planning will include different scenarios ranging from the status quo, to extreme pandemic so that we can be prepared for anything that may happen along with the range of potential outcomes,” Abbott said.
The governor said all these initiatives are so the state will be prepared in case the coronavirus begins spreading in Texas, and not to be alarmist.
“I cannot emphasize enough that has not happened. Our goal is to make sure we’re prepared if something like that were to happen,” said Governor Abbott.
Governor Abbott wants the citizens of Texas to know that work is being done to stop this virus.
“There is a race to come up with vaccines for this, and they are moving at a great swift speed,” he said.
To keep up to date on their plans, the governor said to use this link.
