As cases of coronavirus continued to increase in North Texas, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson declared a state of emergency. Dallas County officials late Thursday night banned large public gatherings for at least the next week, according to the Dallas Morning News. Starting at 11 a.m. March 13 and continuing until March 20, public gatherings of more than 500 people are banned in the county. Gatherings of more than 250 people should be canceled or rescheduled. Exceptions include schools, office towers, movie theaters and airports. Here’s how our City Council members reacted to the local state of disaster for public health emergency:
Council member Lee Kleinman said, “Five or 500, all you have to have is the wrong one person in the room… Keep distance and hopefully we can slow it down; I think that message is getting pretty clear. There are enough hospital beds as long as we don’t have to use them all at the same time.”
Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates said she supports the decision and called for more transparency on how many cases are active. “This is going to give the hospitals more time to identify more ways to quarantine patients. For those of high risk, this is a very serious illness.”
