About one-fifth of Texas’ 29 million people lacks health insurance, and nearly one-quarter of Florida’s 21 million residents are elderly. But the governors of those states have resisted stay-at-home orders, despite mounting criticism.
Democratic mayors in both states have canceled events like Miami’s Ultra electronic music festival and Austin’s South by Southwest and have opened a handful of testing sites. They complain the patchwork of policies has made it nearly impossible to limit the disease’s spread…
“What may be right for places like the larger urban areas may not be right for the more than 200 counties that still have zero cases of COVID-19,” Abbott said.
Officials in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, the state’s largest cities, disagree. On Monday, San Antonio issued a stay-at-home order and Austin was expected to follow suit Tuesday.
