Texas Governor Admits Dangers on Private Call

During a private call, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) admitted that “every scientific and medical report shows” state reopenings “ipso facto” lead to an increase in novel coronavirus cases, even as he publicly announced plans that same week to end an executive stay-at-home order in the state, the Daily Beast reports.

Said Abbott: “Listen, the fact of the matter is pretty much every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a reopening—whether you want to call it a reopening of businesses or of just a reopening of society—in the aftermath of something like this, it actually will lead to an increase and spread. It’s almost ipso facto.”

He added: “The more that you have people out there, the greater the possibility is for transmission. The goal never has been to get transmission down to zero.”